The Rise of Bellatrix Black
by immortal6666
Summary: Formerly Bella's Redemption. A series of events result in Bellatrix being disgraced in the Death Eater circle. When an accidental activation of a heirloom results in passing along of her memories to her younger self, she decides that it is a good opportunity to settle some old scores and refrain from making certain mistakes. Dark Harry! Beta'd by Snakefang93.
1. Back To 17

**Disclaimer :**I do not own Harry Potter or Bellatrix Black.

' ' – Thoughts

" " – Speaking in English

" " – _Speaking in Parseltongue_

* * *

**The Rise of Bellatrix Black  
**

**1 : Back to 17**

Bellatrix Black had just turned 17 recently. She came to visit her private vault in Gringotts to see her inheritance. There were a lot of gold coins piled up in it. But that was not the reason she came here. She had come to see the special heirloom she had inherited from her grandfather. It was a thin, oval shaped object, three inches long. Carved on it were the moving pictures of stars depicting its previous owners in the respective order. At the end her namesake star had appeared depicting her as the new owner. She held the heirloom in her hands and wondered what it did. Suddenly she was bombarded with many memories.

_She was sitting at a long table with her housemates. She looked around and she realized that she was in Great Hall sitting at the Slytherin table. She suddenly remembered. It was the start of the term feast of her 7__th__ year. She felt sad at the fact that she would be leaving the school after that year. They were waiting for the first years to arrive so that they can be sorted to various houses. Usually, she would sleep through the Sorting ceremony but this year was different. Her cousin Sirius Black was starting his first year. They had their own differences but they were family and she was proud of him. She wanted to see him being sorted into Slytherin. Soon, the door opened and Professor McGonagall came in followed by the first years. She spotted Sirius quickly. Dressed in the best quality robes, he walked with confidence and determination. But she knew him well enough to see the signs of nervousness he was trying to hide._

"_Black, Sirius"_

_She saw Sirius walking towards the stool in a confident pose as had been taught to them since they were young. He sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall put the sorting hat on his head. The hat and Sirius seemed to be discussing for two minutes. All the time, she was ready to clap. Finally, the hat opened it's mouth._

"_GRYFFINDOR" _

_She was in shock and so were the rest of the school. _

'_Was a Black just sorted into Gryffindor?'_

_She felt anger and humiliation creep up inside her. She felt everyone looking at her but she couldn't look at any of them due to shame._

_She was sitting in a well decorated room looking at herself in the mirror in front of her. She was a very beautiful witch if she says so herself, but she was looking radiant today. She was wearing all white today. Usually, she would have detested wearing anything other than black but today's occasion was worth it. It was her wedding day. She was brimming with happiness and anticipation but was also slightly nervous. She was not a girly or romantic person like Narcissa but she did have her own expectations. She was really looking forward to the wedding, or to be more exact, the wedding night. The door opened and the very person she thought about came in._

"_Bella, you look very beautiful tonight, more so than usual. I don't think Rodolphus will have the patience to wait until the wedding is over.", Narcissa said making her blush._

_She wondered whether Narcissa was a secret legilimens. She was always the oblivious one of the family. How did she know what her thoughts were. _

"_Something tells me that you are not that patient either."_

_Now, her cheeks were red enough to make tomatoes jealous._

"_Shut up and go away, Cissy", she replied making her smirk._

_She straightened her tiara and said before leaving, "Enjoy the honeymoon properly. I will be asking for details after you return." _

_She looked in the mirror for some more time checking for any imperfections. Soon enough, the door opened again and her father came in. A look of pride came onto his face when he saw her._

"_You look beautiful tonight, Bella", her father complemented her._

"_Thank You, Father"_

"_Are you ready to go?", he asked to which she nodded._

_He extended his hand and she linked her hand with his. They both walked together to the venue. The venue was quite beautiful and well decorated. The whole wizarding world had come to attend the wedding of the eldest daughter of the Black family. When they heard her coming, they all turned to look at her. She knew all of their attention was on her at the moment but her attention was only on the one she loved. Rodolphus Lestrange was a tall, muscular man who had a rugged look. He was standing on the dais wearing a black tuxedo which accentuated his muscular frame. He was looking at her waiting for her to reach him. Eventually, they reached him and stepped on to the dais. Her father handed her handed to him and stood to the side. They both stood facing the minister hand in hand. The minister started babbling the usual nonsense which she tuned out. Then the minister asked to the crowd whether anyone has any objections. Her only thought at that time was that if any idiot had stood up to object, she would slowly torture him to death. No one did. _

_The minister then turned towards Rodolphus._

"_Do you Rodolphus Romulus Lestrange take this lady as your faithful wife and swear to stand by her through health and sickness until death does you part?"_

"_Yes, I do." _

_The minister then turned towards her._

"_Do you Bellatrix Druella Black take this gentleman as your faithful husband and swear to stand by him through health and sickness until death does you part?"_

"_Yes, I do."_

"_Now, hold your hands together and extend them forward."_

_They did as the minister instructed. The minister mumbled some long incantation while tapping his wand on their hands. A blue glow appeared around their entwined which expanded to cover both of them after which it disappeared._

"_I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your wife now."_

_The moment the sentence was spoken, they started kissing. After the official dance was over, they quickly apparated off to enjoy our honeymoon._

_She had just arrived at a large manor with her husband. The house was spacious but she did not come here to comment on the building. She was going to be a Death Eater tonight. Her husband had been one of the first Death Eaters. He joined when he was in his sixth year. It was due to this reason that the Dark Lord has considered his request of letting her join too. She felt proud and elated to know that this powerful wizard considered her worthy enough to be one of his elite group of followers. She had felt bored of doing nothing but order her house elf around. Now, she can join her husband and brothers-in-law in fighting for their cause. They soon reached a closed door on which her husband knocked._

"_Come in", said a cold, emotionless voice that sent chills down her spine._

_They entered the room as had been ordered. In the middle of the room was a throne on which a man was sitting. The man was tall with black hair. His facial features resembled more of a snake than a human but he can still be considered handsome. They knelt down in front of him as had been expected of them. _

"_You can look up now", he said after observing them for some time._

_He looked into each of their eyes one by one and then he nodded his acceptance._

_He got up from his throne, came towards her and said, "Are you sure you want to join us?"_

"_Yes, my lord. It would be an honour."_

"_Then extend your hand."_

_She extended her left hand as her husband had told her. The Dark Lord pulled her sleeves up and pressed his wand on her hand. She was shocked by the sudden pain that erupted in her arm. It felt as if the skin in her arm is being peeled off layer by layer and the inside of her hand is being burned. She bit her lip to keep from screaming but she soon started screaming due to the excruciating pain. She soon lost her consciousness._

_When she woke up, the Dark Lord had already left and her husband was looking at her with concern. _

"_I am sorry that I fainted. I tried not to."_

"_Bella, it is fine. You were supposed to faint. The initiation is complete only when you faint."_

_She was greatly relieved on hearing that. She had feared for a moment that she had disappointed them by being weak._

_She was sitting in her home when the floo flared and Narcissa's face appeared. _

"_Bella, can I come in? You are not busy, are you?"_

"_Of course not, Cissy. Come in."_

_There was another flare and she saw her sister come out of the floo._

"_Cissy, it is so boring sitting at home doing nothing."_

"_I understand."_

"_You do? I thought you loved that kind of life. Isn't it a dream come true for you?"_

"_Maybe. But I was talking about you."_

"_How are things in Hogwarts?"_

"_As boring as ever."_

"_How is Andy? I have never heard from her for long."_

_Narcissa's features visibly hardened and an uncharacteristically cold look came up on her face._

"_Do not even speak her name in front of me.", she said fury emanating from her voice._

_She was shocked to see her sister so angry. Narcissa never gets angry. She was always calm and composed. Something really bad must have happened between them._

"_What happened?"_

"_**What happened? **__What is left to happen? She became pregnant with that mudblood Tonks' child and ran off with him. Apparently that mudblood was more important to her than us."_

_She was shocked that her sister did something like that. They were quite close, more than she was to Narcissa. She never knew they were dating let alone sleeping together. She expected such a betrayal from Sirius not Andromeda._

_She was looking at herself in the mirror. She was looking quite beautiful tonight. She was quite nervous as she was planning to give the big news. She was pregnant. She was worried that he might not take it well. She was thinking about many ways to break the news to him without giving him a shock. She wondered for a moment what advice Andy would give. Then she berated herself for thinking about that blood traitor at a happy time like this. She felt him coming into the room. This is the moment._

"_Rhoddy, did you know that we are not the only Lestranges now?"_

_Her husband looked at her as if she had lost her mind._

"_Of course I know, Bella. My brother Rabastan is also a Lestrange if you have forgotten."_

_She was now embarrassed. In her nervousness, she had worded the question wrong._

"_No, I meant to say that there is another Lestrange coming.", she said stroking her now flat stomach for emphasis._

_He had a puzzled expression on his face which gave way to shock when the true meaning of the words registered in his mind. He cupped her face in his hands and asked, "Really?"_

_She blushed. In public, she was a cruel and ruthless death eater Bellatrix Lestrange but she was like putty in her husband's hands. _

_They were in their headquarters wearing their Death Eater attire. The meeting was officially over and everyone else had left. They bowed to him in respect._

"_My lord, we have a news to convey.", Rodolphus said._

"_What is it?"_

"_Bella is pregnant. So, I was wondering whether she can be relieved of her duty considering her present delicate condition."_

_A twisted smile came on to the Dark Lord's features._

"_I assume the child will grow up to be a loyal Death Eater like it's parents."_

"_Yes, my lord."_

"_Then, she can take her leave. If you have any other requests, you should tell me. Lord Voldemort rewards those who are loyal to him. Now, leave."_

_Her stomach was paining and she was losing consciousness. Everything was becoming blurry. She heard a male voice-Rodolphus' voice- asking her whether she was alright. She couldn't reply. Her vocal cords don't seem to be working properly. She felt him going away and panicked but he returned quickly. Soon, she felt her eyelids closing due to exhaustion. When she opened her eyes, she saw Rodolphus holding her hand and a man in lime green robes-a healer- was standing beside him._

"_What happened?", she said._

_She was feeling so weak and vulnerable. She did not like it._

_The healer looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here._

"_You had a miscarriage.", the healer said._

_Those words had the effect of a sword being plunged into her heart. Her eyes started filling with tears. It couldn't be. Not her baby. She refused to believe it. It was a dream she was going to wake up from and she will laugh about her silliness later. But as she looked at her husband's depressed face, she knew that it was true. She had lost her child._

"_Don't worry, dearest. We can try again later. Right now, we should be concentrating on your recovery.", Rodolphus said._

_The healer looked more uncomfortable now than before which was saying something._

"_The damage was too great for me to heal. She is not capable of bearing a child anymore.", the healer said._

_Rodolphus left her as if he had been burned and turned around to face the healer. _

_He lifted the shorter man by his collar and said, "Don't lie to me, you filth. I will personally torture you to death. Don't forget who I am."_

_If the healer looked scared before, he looked absolutely terrified now. _

"_I wish I was lying but I am not."_

_Rodolphus looked as if he was going to kill the man but he threw him down and stormed off. Even when she felt a sense of foreboding, she convinced herself that her husband just needed a little time and space to deal with it._

_She was in the courtroom 10. She was shackled to a chair alongside her husband, brother-in-law and protégé. The whole Wizengamot was presently looking down on them. The minister looked exceptionally angry as he had to execute his own son. She inwardly smirked._

"_Do you Bellatrix Lestrange admit to casting the Cruciatus curse on Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom?"_

"_Yes. I put those bloodtraitors in their place.", she said defiantly._

"_Then, you are sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban."_

_She was then dragged away and transported to that island._

_Her dark mark was burning. She knew that he was back. She wished she could apparate to him to give him a proper welcome but she was in Azkaban. She had been waiting for this moment for many years. She still remembered many of the rumors that circled around her. Many believed that she sleeps with the Dark Lord. She tortured anyone she heard telling that but laughed about it in private. There was nothing like that between them. She knew well that the Dark Lord considered love, sex and other similar things as human thing and far below him. To her, he occupied the place that Uncle Orion had left vacant with his death, that of a guide, dueling instructor and a father figure. She knew that she did suck up to him a lot but she had been that way with her uncle too. After she lost her baby, he helped her in his own way by giving her a lot of work to do which helped her forget about her failures in her marriage, something even her husband hadn't cared enough to do for her. Rodolphus had never touched her after that day. He had chosen to blame her for him not having a heir and punish her for it. He started cheating on her publicly, many times with muggles. He always talked about how nice it would be if any of those muggles had gotten pregnant as having a halfblood heir would be better than having no heir at all. It had hurt her deeply. She had flirted with many others to see whether he would get jealous but he never seemed to care. She soon realized that he had never really loved her at all but had seen her only as a way to get a strong heir. She had wanted to get back at him the same way but she still loved him too much to cheat on him. So, she chose to lock up her feelings and continued suffering the humiliation without giving any reaction. She knew that soon enough the Dark Lord will rescue her from this hell. She will wait until then._

_She was in the Ministry again, this time in Department of Mysteries. She and few other Death Eaters had cornered the children. She had to marvel at the ingenuity of Dark Lord's plan. Dark Lord had decided to learn the full prophecy before taking any further action. Instead of risking exposure when the Ministry was being so helpfully denying his existence, he had chosen to lure Potter here and have him give it. The dark lord had put some false vision in Potter's head of his godfather being tortured. It worked splendidly. Potter had come running with his equally idiotic friends. The surprising thing was that Dumbledore hadn't told Potter anything about the prophecy. May be they are not as chummy-chummy as they thought. It only works to their advantage. She was broken out from her thoughts when she heard a door on the side opening. She saw the members of Order of Phoenix rushing in. She was furious. Just when they were about to surrender the prophecy, these idiots had to show up. She saw a pink haired woman rushing towards her who she recognized as her blood traitor sister's daughter. She knocked her out within 20 seconds. She had expected a better fight from Andromeda's daughter. May be the muggle blood in her made her a weakling. She then saw Sirius come rushing to fight her. It looks like even after all these years, he hasn't managed to grow a brain. She started attacking and he dodged her every spell. She then heard another door opening on the same side and saw through the side of her eyes Dumbledore standing amidst a cloud of white smoke. Sirius had started mocking her. She became very angry and threw a spell to where she knew he would dodge. She saw him getting hit by it and falling through the veil. She quickly ran away from the room. She was not planning to get caught. She had had enough of Azkaban. She dodged all the spells that came towards her and kept running. She then heard a set of footsteps behind her and looked back to see Potter running towards her with a furious expression on his face. It looks like luck was on her side. She quickly ran off as if she was trying to escape. She stopped when she reached the main entrance. Soon, the door opened and he came rushing in._

"_Is ickle baby Potter angry with Bwella for killing his favorite mutt?", she said mimicking a baby's voice._

_As she expected, his features hardened. But what came later was something she never expected._

"_CRUCIO"_

_She quickly put up a non-verbal shield but that wasn't enough. She was blasted away a fair distance. She got back up quickly, well as quickly as she could manage._

"_You stupid boy, do you really think you can beat me? I am Bellatrix Lestrange. The Dark Lord had personally taught me Dark Arts. To cast a Cruciatus, you should __**mean**__ them, Potter.", she snarled giving up her baby act._

_She was furious, not at the boy, but at herself for letting her guard down. She was lucky that he was completely ignorant when it comes to Dark Arts. He certainly had the power to produce a strong Cruciatus curse but he just didn't know how._

"_Stupefy"_

_She nonverbally deflected it back to Potter who was knocked backwards. She saw him getting up again. _

"_I have no time to play games, Potter. Give me the prophecy."_

"_I don't have it. It fell down from my hands and broke."_

"_You liar! Accio! Accio Prophecy! Accio Prophecy!"_

_She tried summoning it many times but prophecy did not come to her hands. She was terrified now. She knew that the Dark Lord would be furious when he learns about it and she would be punished. She suddenly felt his presence. He is nearby._

"_My Lord, I am sorry. I failed to get the prophecy. It was destroyed."_

_Harry Potter let out a high cold laugh so similar to the Dark Lord's that she was shocked._

"_There is no use of whining, Bellatrix. Your dark lord cannot hear you."_

_Suddenly another high pitched cold voice sounded in the room._

"_I can certainly hear her, Harry Potter"_

_She saw that Potter was on the floor clutching his scar in pain. Suddenly, the Dark Lord appeared out of nowhere with his wand pointed towards Potter._

"_You have been an annoyance to me for too long. I will not let it continue. Avada Kedavra"_

_She saw the green light going towards Potter. Suddenly, a gargoyle came out of nowhere and interrupted the curse bursting into flames. She saw Albus Dumbledore walking in and standing between the Dark Lord and Harry Potter._

_Then they started their epic duel. They were both casting ancient powerful spells trying to outdo the other. She could see that while the Dark Lord didn't even break sweat, Dumbledore was showing the signs of fatigue. She looked at Potter who was been hidden by an animated gargoyle and saw the fear in his eyes. She knew that he was seeing the true power of the Dark Lord for the first time. For a moment, she felt bad for him. The poor boy was expected to beat one of the most powerful wizards of all the time but he didn't even know half the spells someone of his age was supposed to know. She saw the Dark Lord sending the Killing Curse at Dumbledore and his phoenix jumping in to intercept the curse as it knew that Dumbledore was too tired to defend himself anymore. When the curse hit it, it burst into flames._

_The Dark Lord suddenly disappeared. The boy seemed relieved but she, like Dumbledore, could feel his presence and knew that he was still there somewhere hidden._

_She suddenly saw Potter's eyes turn red and an evil smile crept up his face. _

"_Kill me … Kill the boy…"_

_He let out a cold laugh sending shivers down her spine. She saw that Dumbledore was truly terrified. The Dark Lord had possessed Harry Potter and Dumbledore was in a dilemma. If he cast the killing curse on Harry Potter might kill the Dark Lord but Harry Potter would definitely die. If he doesn't, the Dark Lord in the Harry Potter's body could do quite a lot of damage. It was quite cunning of Dark Lord as it was obvious that Dumbledore would kill Harry Potter to protect the rest of the wizarding world. Just as Dumbledore raised his wand to kill, Potter's eyes turned back to green and a shapeless black form was thrust out of him. The shapeless form turned into the form of the Dark Lord who did not look so confident anymore. He took her hand and apparated off with her. The last thing she saw was the minister running towards them with another man._

_She was in Hogwarts now. Her nephew had, after a year of berating and threats finally completed repairing the Vanishing Cabinet and managed to link the twins properly. She had sent Greyback first as she didn't trust her nephew enough. To her surprise, it did work. She walked through the school hallways stunning anyone who came to fight her. She was on a strict time schedule and she had learned from last year not to stand around and boast. She quickly reached the top of the Astronomy Tower and was surprised to see Draco standing there pointing his wand at the fallen head master._

_Maybe she was a little hard on him during the training. She sometimes forgot that he did not have the power Potter seems to possess. She had always wondered, for some reason, how it would have been if she had gotten Harry Potter to teach. She had been looking for him in the castle but he was not there anywhere._

"_Good work, Draco. I see you have disarmed Dumbledore and you have him at your mercy." _

_She kissed the back of his neck as a show of congratulation and stood at his side to support him. _

"_Good evening, Bellatrix. How are you?", Dumbledore said as if they had met for a coffee._

"_Good evening, Albus. As much as I like to chat, we are on a tight schedule. Draco, kill him quickly.", she said in the same tone._

_She then saw that even though he was pointing the wand at Dumbledore, his hand seems to be shaking. She wondered what was going through the Dark Lord's mind when he gave Draco the mission. In spite of what she told him, she was not foolish enough to believe that it was some sort of privilege. The Dark Lord was embarrassed by everyone's failure last year, including his own. So, he needed to punish someone to vent his frustrations. Lucius Malfoy was the obvious choice as he had stupidly thrown away the diary the Dark Lord had given him to keep it safe. As the idiot had ended up in Azkaban, his son had to suffer the punishment for his father's mistakes by being given a suicide mission. She shook herself out of her thoughts and observed the present situation. It was obvious that Draco didn't have it in him to kill someone and was stalling. She thought about telling him that if she would have taught Potter instead of him, he would have already killed Dumbledore. Apparently, they both had some kind of rivalry going on and Draco was always quite eager to show that he was better than Potter. She then decided otherwise as anyone else knowing that she has feelings for Potter other than disgust or hatred will not be good for her._

_Just then, Severus Snape came from somewhere behind them and pushed Draco aside._

"_Severus, please …", Dumbledore pleaded._

"_Avada Kedavra"_

_The spell hit Dumbledore in the chest and he fell off the Tower due to the force. She knew that it will be a big blow for the Light side. For a moment, she allowed herself to feel sorry for the boy who will be facing the Dark Lord without any training. She went off with the others towards the gates. She heard a commotion behind her and saw Potter trying to hit Snape with a curse. He looked so angry that she knew that he had seen Snape kill Dumbledore. She stood at a distance and watched with interest. Harry Potter was sending hex after hex on Snape who was deflecting it easily. She noted with interest that all the spells Potter used were Snape's inventions. That boy certainly knows to infuriate someone, she noted with a motherly pride. When he used Sectumsempra, she was nearly jumping with joy. The boy had the same talent and love for Dark Arts that she had at that age. It is a pity that he was stuck in the hands of incompetent Light biased people. She could have taught him many things and made him into a powerful wizard._

_She had just apparated into the Diagon Alley. For some reason, the Dark Lord had called her here. She saw him standing there with many Death Eaters around him. Some like Rowle and Dolohov were looking smug, the Malfoys were terrified and Rabastan was furious. She knew that the Malfoys were under house arrest and the fact that they were out put her on guard. She approached the Dark Lord and knelt before him. He observed her for some time before allowing her to get up._

_He gestured towards his side and told her to check it. She went nearby and recognized the body of her husband. She had stopped caring about her husband long time ago but still seeing his corpse was a shock to her. She looked properly and saw that he was tortured using her favorite curses just the way she would have used them. Apparently, she had a copycat. If she didn't know better, she would have said that she was the one who killed him. Then it suddenly occurred to her. What if the dark lord didn't know better? She looked at the Dark Lord to see him scrutinizing her for her reaction._

"_Did you know that he had been missing for a month before we found him dead?"_

"_No, my lord. I have never even seen him after he was caught in the Ministry."_

_That was true. After being broken out of Azkaban, she refused to see him more than strictly necessary. She had been living in Malfoy Manor since then. _

"_I believe that I gave you something to keep safe. I want it back now.", he ordered._

"_Yes, my lord. It is still in my vault."_

_Looking at her fallen husband, suddenly something occurred to her. They were in front of the Gringotts and the Dark Lord was suddenly asking about the Cup. Had someone used her husband to take the Cup and took off with it after killing him? She then realized that it was not possible as no one else knew about the Cup let alone where it was hidden unless her husband had been conspiring with that person to put her in the Dark Lord's bad books. It certainly has worked well by the looks of it._

"_Apparently, it is not there any longer. Do you know where it is now?", the Dark Lord asked._

_He seemed calm, a little too calm. She knew from experience that she was in for a severe punishment._

"_No, my lord. I do not know."_

"_CRUCIO"_

_It came so suddenly that she didn't see it. It was much more powerful than any that she had experienced. He was very furious. It then suddenly stopped._

"_Tell me, Bellatrix, you did say that you have never seen your husband for over a year. Then, how did your magical signature come all over him?"_

_She was shocked. She didn't know what to say._

"_I-I don't know, my lord. I am telling the truth. I am your most faithful follower, my lord. I wouldn't lie to you."_

"_ENOUGH. I had enough of your lies. Avada Kedavra"_

_She dodged the spell quickly and raised her own wand at him._

"_Just because you are too incompetent to be beaten by a boy doesn't mean you should take it out on others."_

_She knew that she had hit a spot. Everyone was looking at her in shock. It would have been very funny if she herself wasn't shocked at what she had said. It was true that she had been having doubts recently but even she never expected that outburst. But she didn't regret it. She was going to die anyway. She had rather die fighting like a true warrior than as a pathetic coward._

"_I knew about your little infatuation with the Potter boy. You cannot hide anything from Lord Voldemort. I had believed that you were strong enough to get rid of this weakness.", he sneered in disgust before continuing, "I am curious though. Why him?"_

_She saw everyone looking at her intently to see her reaction. Everyone wanted to see whether she would confirm it or deny it._

"_May be because his blood is more pure."_

_She had said it silently but everyone in the vicinity had heard it. She had neither confirmed it nor denied it. She had heard rumors about it but no one had dared mention it in front of him before. His reaction was enough indication that there was some truth to it. Suddenly, an evil smile crept on to his face._

"_I could kill you today. But, both you and Lucius have thrown away the possessions that I have entrusted you with. Lord Voldemort is merciful and believes in giving equal and just punishment to those who make the same mistake. So, I chose to spare your life and give you both a common punishment."_

_To anyone else, it might look like an act of kindness but she read the underlying message. She snarled at the thought of that thing hurting her baby sister. His features became smug as he sensed that she had gotten the message. She would protect Narcissa until her last breath._

"_I believe that being beaten by a small boy many times have gotten to you, if your desperate attempts to avoid the humiliation of another defeat is anything to go by.", she replied._

_He couldn't control his anger any longer and fired the first spell. She dodged his every attack and counterattacked with a ferocity that no one had shown against the Dark Lord. But he was much more powerful than her and more experienced. Soon, she was disarmed and blasted away. He broke her wand and threw it to the side. She saw Narcissa trying to come to her side but Lucius was holding her tightly. Then, she was levitated and thrown inside Ollivander's wand shop before closing the door. As she fell, she felt something falling from her hidden breast pocket. She saw a thin oval shaped object and recognized it as the heirloom she had inherited from her paternal grandfather. It reminded her of her happy past, where she was part of a happy, united family, of a time before Voldemort, a time without regrets. She heard a fire being lit and knew that her punishment was to be burned alive. She could smell Dark Magic and knew that he had used fiendfyre. She was too injured from her duel to try and find a way out. She saw the fire closing in and held onto her heirloom in fear. She thought of all the people that she had murdered mercilessly. She knew that they had all seen death approaching like she does now. In their last moments, they had also worried about whether their loved ones will be alive and safe like she is doing with Narcissa. She regretted letting her pride keep her from showing Andromeda that she loves her despite her choices. The fire was very close now and the heat has become unbearable. It was her last few moments now. She held her heirloom tight, closed her eyes tightly and wished fervently for a second chance, a fresh start to life, where she can support Andy and Sirius like an elder sister should, where she can put her mark on the wizarding world not by murdering people on some Dark Lord's orders but protecting the innocents from people like them. She felt as if she was being pulled along from all sides. She felt as if she was being ripped apart._

She opened her eyes and saw that she was in her private vault. She looked around confused and then she suddenly remembered. She had come to see the heirloom that she had inherited. She realized that she was sitting on the floor and her face was streaked with her tears. She wiped her face clean and stood up. Her head was still aching from the onslaught of memories. She knew that she had no seer blood in her and that her grandfather wouldn't give her anything harmful. So, from where did these memories come from? Were they events that are going to happen or just some hallucinations? She shook her head to clear her thoughts and went home with her heirloom. She was a 17 year old now. She needed her rest.

* * *

Bellatrix doesn't remember everything she did in the future. She only remembers the important events in her life, the events that led to the creation of Bellatrix Lestrange. If any of these events are altered, so is the end result. These are the events Bellatrix will concentrate on as she tries to make the future better for everyone than the one she knew. I hope you have liked my idea of a time travel story with a twist. Please give me many reviews and suggestions.


	2. New Alliances

**Disclaimer :**I do not own Harry Potter though I am negotiating with JK Rowling for Bellatrix Black.

_ Thoughts_

" " – Speaking in English

" " – _Speaking in Parseltongue_

* * *

__This chapter was Betad by Snakefang93.

* * *

**The Rise of Bellatrix Black  
**

**2 : New Alliances**

The next day, Bellatrix woke up disoriented. Her bedroom looked just like the one at her old family estate rather than the one at Malfoy Manor. She then suddenly remembered the events that transpired the previous day in the vault. She was 17-years old now, at least physically. It was as if there were two persons inside her: a 17 year old girl and middle aged psychotic Death Eater. The feeling was weird, really weird.

She then thought about the memories she had seen. The first was Sirius becoming a Gryffindor, ha, fat chance there. There wasn't a Black who wasn't sorted into the noble house of Slytherin. The other memories showed her that she led a happy life in the beginning but it became darker later on. She could remember that someone named Harry Potter was prominent in the later stages of her life. Finally, Bellatrix thought a lot on how to proceed. After all there must be a reason for her seeing these specific memories. She was not even sure if these memories were real. After thinking about them for some time, Bellatrix decided to wait until the first day of school to reach a proper conclusion. If Sirius Black, her cousin got sorted into Gryffindor, she would receive some sort of proof that the memories she received were real. So, Bellatrix decided to wait and see if Sirius got sorted into Gryffindor. If he did, she would then decide on what to do.

Getting up from her bed, Bellatrix followed her usual schedule, at least what she remembered her usual schedule was at the age of 17, with improvements in certain places. She mostly kept to herself as she knew that the more people she spoke to, greater the chance that others would spot the differences in her. She then started revising the spells, and the theory behind them, from all the school books from 1st year to 7th year. She should get used to casting light spells now, for most of her in Hogwarts time. There were many spells she could do easily since she had been casting them her whole life, some of which she even could do wandlessly. There were some spells whose existence she had forgotten, or she had never used in her life. In her original timeline where she, Bellatrix Black went on to become the most notorious Death Eater, she had foolishly believed that Dark Arts made you more powerful than others and had neglected other branches of magic. While she was good at them, her knowledge was dismal compared to her knowledge in Dark Arts. Even though she didn't have any specific memories related to that, she knew that it did create problems when she was fighting experienced fighters of the Order of Phoenix. So, she chose to spend more time and effort on Transfiguration and Charms as they were the subjects she had slacked off the most due to her dislike of the Gryffindor Head of the House and the Ravenclaw half-breed Flitwick. Bellatrix distinctly remembered the duel between Albus Dumbledore and the Lord Voldemort in the Ministry atrium. Dumbledore did things simple and effortless as summoning or conjuring objects and placing them in the path to block the powerful Unforgivables from Voldemort. Dumbledore sending the 'Fire-whip' in form of a snake towards Voldemort was as impressive as Voldemort's counter attack of transfiguring the whip into a snake. The duel was a classic example of two of the most powerful wizards in Britain trying to outdo the other in power struggle. Voldemort proved that day that he was more powerful than the ageing head master as proved when Dumbledore's phoenix had to shield it's master from a killing curse. The most powerful person didn't always emerge to be the victor in the end of course, just as Harry Potter proved many times. She had heard from other Death Eaters about what had happened at the resurrection ceremony of Voldemort. Harry Potter had used his wits to escape right in front of Voldemort's nonexistent nose and his Death Eaters. He had caused some sort of distraction and had escaped using the two way portkey, the one Crouch created to send his dead body back to Hogwarts. She also remembered the incident in Department Of Mysteries where Potter blasted away the prophecies creating smoke and escaping with his friends in the resulting confusion. It was a good move even if she had unwillingly given him the hint. Voldemort and his Death Eaters meanwhile believed that he had gotten lucky. But the sour truth was the fact that Harry Potter was aware of his surroundings and used it to his advantage, an important lesson Voldemort had forgotten a long time ago. She chuckled at the irony of her previous thought. Bellatrix Lestrange, the most dangerous and feared woman in England, being taught the basic rules of combat by an untrained boy one-third her age. He also taught her how important it was to control her big mouth. The boy was hopeless against Legillimecy, but he had firm control over his mouth.

* * *

She was interrupted from her musings by a knock on the door. She opened the door to see her own face staring back at her. She wondered when she placed a mirror outside her door. Bellatrix then looked properly and saw that the person had reddish brown hair and dark brown eyes. Andromeda Black, her sister.

'What is Andromeda doing here?'

Then she remembered that she was 17 and Andromeda didn't run off with the mudblood … _yet_.

She let her in.

"Bellatrix, are you alright?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Bellatrix replied, her voice a tad nervous.

"Well, you have been acting weird last few days. You haven't talked to any of us lately."

"One word, Andromeda. NEWTS."

Andromeda's features morphed into one of sympathy and understanding.

"I understand. My OWLs just finished. I am happy that I have 2 more years left in school."

"This is my last year, Andy. We did have a lot of fun at school even if Dumbledore is the headmaster. You know, Andy, in a few year's time, we will be the trophy wives of some stuck up pureblood snobs … or disowned for running off with a mudblood."

Bellatrix noticed her sister stiffening at the last remark and hid in a smirk. It was obvious Andromeda was uncomfortable in spite of trying to act unaffected. She knew that her sister had now forgotten anything about her acting weird. Bellatrix idly wondered why she didn't notice it the first time around.

"Don't look at me like that, Andy. We both have more sense than to do something like that. I was talking about Narcissa. She is the one who believes in romantic mush and other girly things."

"Of course, you are right. I will be going. I won't disturb your preparations." Andromeda said quickly, too quickly as she left Bellatrix to her musings.

* * *

That night, Bellatrix sat in her room mapping out a plan. She decided that neither would she marry Rodolphus LeStrange, nor would she join Lord Voldemort. If her memories were true, she would avenge her humiliation by destroying the dark lord. To destroy someone like him, she would need strong allies in the right places in addition to becoming more powerful. She started listing all the powerful people who created trouble for Voldemort in her timeline and everything she knew about them.

_Albus Dumbledore (very powerful, influential, feared by Voldemort, but secretive and an untrustworthy manipulator)_

_Minerva McGonagall (powerful witch but blindly loyal to Dumbledore)_

_Alastor Moody (powerful, experienced fighter, Head Auror)_

_Amelia Bones (powerful, influencial, rule abiding)_

_Edgar Bones_

_Caradoc Dearborn_

_Gideon & Fabian Prewett_

_Kingsley Shacklebolt_

_Rufus Scrimgeour_

_Marlene McKinnon (powerful pureblood family)_

_Dorcas Meadows_

_Benjy Fenwick_

_Frank Longbottom_

_Alice Scythe_

_Remus Lupin (werewolf, intelligent, loyal, resourceful)_

_Sirius Black (powerful, loyal but impulsive and foolish at times)_

_James Potter (powerful, loyal but impulsive and foolish at times)_

_Lily Evans_

There were many she knew well, like her cousin Sirius, while she had only heard about others as being killed by some other death eaters. Most of them were in Order of Phoenix while many like Amelia Bones preferred to be independent. She then hid this list so that only she can access it. She then continued with her studies.

* * *

Soon, September 1st arrived. The Black family reached King's Cross station 15 minutes before the train was to depart. They did not hug or kiss or show any outward emotions. They firmly believed that public displays of affection were for those of lower stations. She saw her uncle talking to Sirius. Even if she couldn't hear what was said, she knew what it was. The same thing was told to her when she was starting her first year.

"You know where you are supposed to be. Don't do anything that brings bad name to the family."

They quickly got on the train and gave a nod to their parents and Regulus Black, who would only join them the next year. They then separated and went to find their friends. The ride to the school was boring with the kids trying to copy their parents' political games. Soon, they reached the Great Hall and got seated. The doors opened and Professor McGonagall came in followed by the first years. She spotted Sirius quickly. Dressed in the best quality robes, he walked with confidence and determination. But she knew him well enough to see the signs of nervousness he was trying to hide.

"Black, Sirius"

She saw Sirius walking towards the stool in a confident pose as had been taught to them since they were young. He sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall put the sorting hat on his head. The hat and Sirius seemed to be discussing for two minutes. Finally, the hat opened it's mouth.

"GRYFFINDOR"

The whole hall went silent. Almost everyone was staring at him in shock. The Gryffindors were gawking like monkeys while Slytherins were staring more discreetly. Many were looking at her to see how she would react. Bellatrix behaved as if it was an everyday occurrence. After all she knew that it was going to happen and was just waiting to see it happen. Now, she knew that the plans she made weren't a waste of time. She saw Sirius setting the hat back on the stool and walking over to the Gryffindor table slowly. She could see that he was unnerved by the stares that he received. Professor McGonagall continued the sorting after she got over her shock. Soon, the feast started. While she was eating, she went over her plans once again. Sirius unknowingly had done her a huge favor by getting into Gryffindor. He made things easier for her by opening up a path for her into the 'Light' families. The next step was to decide who to recruit first. She looked over at the Gryffindor table and analyzed everyone. She noticed that James Potter was engaging Sirius in a conversation. She already knew that they were acquainted before Hogwarts. Sirius was arrogant enough already without Potter egging him on. Bellatrix decided that he needed another friend, someone who could control the duo, someone who would be loyal to him but also be loyal to her and be her informant in their little group.

_But who?_

She looked at the Gryffindor table again and felt anger rise up inside her as she saw that everyone else was looking at her cousin warily as if he was a filthy werewolf-

_Of course!_ Bellatrix facepalmed.

_Why didn't she think of 'him' before?_

The next day, while they were having breakfast, Bellatrix saw a familiar owl fly towards the Gryffindor table. She saw it return after giving him the letter. She noticed that he kept a stoic look throughout his breakfast. He finished eating quickly and took off to class and she took off after him. She stopped him in the hallway and brought him to an empty classroom. She extended her hand.

"The letter."

He handed the letter to her. It was written in a top quality parchment with the Black family seal on it. She saw him looking at her through the corner of her eyes. He had a resigned look on his face but she could also see some hope which surprised her. She didn't know that he considered her opinion of him important. She had just assumed that they had hated each other from the beginning.

She faced him and said, "You do know that Aunt Walburga did not write any note of congratulations to you in this letter, do you?"

"I know that. Just say it."

"Then, I guess you wouldn't mind me doing this.", Bellatrix said.

She then willed her magic to flow through her hands and burn the letter. Soon enough, the letter burned to ashes. Sirius looked up at her startled at the sudden display of wandless magic. She carefully considered the words she was going to say as she knew well the importance of this moment.

"You are already depressed enough without reading it. I will write to your parents and tell them that your getting into Gryffindor was a part of some grand plan of yours to extend the Black family's power and influence into the Light side. I want you to befriend all the purebloods in the Light side in the coming days to support my story. I know how overbearing your mother can be but don't hate the rest of your family for it. We will help you and support you within our limitations. Hard times are approaching, Sirius and it is important that our family stays united."

"I don't understand. You were the most vocal in your hating me and now you are helping me. You hated Gryffindor and considered it to be the worst house. You should have been the first one to say that I am a disgrace to the family." Sirius Black fairly whined.

Bellatrix didn't know whether Sirius was telling the truth or what he believed to be the truth. She did not have many childhood memories left. The only thing she knew about her relationship with Sirius was that she felt no remorse after killing him in the original timeline.

"I grew up, I guess. The importance of houses diminishes after you leave school. You will be remembered for the job you did and respected for your achievements. Albus Dumbledore is respected for his defeat of the Dark Lord Grindelwald and not for being a Gryffindor. I believe you have a class to go to."

"You have changed, Bella … but for the better. See you later."

He went off to class leaving her to revel in her victory. She had every reason to be happy. Not only did she gain Sirius' alliance but also got Sirius to recruit for her. She now wouldn't have to personally talk to anyone in Sirius' year and a year up and down. She took a moment to congratulate herself and went to her class. She still had many persons to recruit and a letter to write after all.

* * *

Her first class was Charms with Hufflepuffs. She quickly went to class and saw that she was the last to arrive. She looked around and realized that the only empty seat was beside Amelia Bones. She wondered if there was someone up there who was making things easier for her. She walked into the class and sat beside her.

"I believe we haven't met yet. I am Bellatrix Black."

"Amelia Bones"

Bellatrix observed her from the corner of her eyes. She didn't remember much about how the other girl was in school. So, she didn't know why she was sitting alone. She only remembered the tough Auror and later head of the DMLE who died fairly early during the second war. She was killed in an attack on her home by their Transfiguration prodigy Antonin Dolohov. She had been quite popular due to the tough stand she took against Death Eaters. She wondered whether she was unpopular in school. Other than the lack of signs of ageing and monocle, Amelia Bones looked the same. She always took notes of every little thing even now. Bellatrix knew that Amelia was still dangerous and that she needed to be careful.

Bellatrix Black turned her attention back to the class where Professor Flitwick was talking about the importance of NEWTS.

_Is every first class of 7th year going to be this pep talk?_

She sighed as she started drooling at the boring monologue. Filius Flitwick, being part goblin, was a man of short stature. However, anyone who deemed him as an easy victim due to his lack of height was bound to be unpleasantly surprised. It was very difficult to hit him with a spell since he is very short. Combining that with his excellent spell work made him a dangerous opponent in duelling. Flictwick was a duelling chapion for a reason after all.

"I am giving you all an assignment to be submitted at the end of the month. Choose an advanced level charm and do a detailed research on it. This assignment forms one fifth of your grades in this subject. Your grades depend not only on the research material you submit but also on the complexity and rarity of the charm. The one sitting next to you will be your partner."

_I am sure now. There is someone or something up there helping me._

"You are supposed to be angry not happy, you know? Wouldn't you have preferred to have a partner from your own house?", Amelia Bones asked curiously.

"Why wouldn't I be happy at the chance to make a new ally?", Bella asked challengingly.

"Well, do you have any idea what charm we should do for our assignment?" Amelia replied back, her left eye twitching.

"Fidelius Charm. It is a very complex and rarely used charm. If we work hard enough, we can learn it."

She had been interested in the Fidelius charm ever since she had learned about its usage on their old family estate to make it suitable as the headquarters of the Order Of Phoenix. If a charm done on a house was so powerful that the ones who grew up in it forgot about it, it was something she would definitely look into. Bellatrix idly wondered why Voldemort never used the charm.

"And where are we going to get information for it? The books containing the information are rare and banned".

"How would you know if you don't look for it? We can change the topic if we don't find any books on Fidelius charm."

"Fine."

* * *

Next class was Potions with Gryffindors. She went to the class and sat on the Slytherin side. Professor Slughorn was short, stocky, walrus like man whose bulging belly put a huge strain on the buttons of his shirt. He loved a luxurious life and favoured certain people who he was sure would go far in life. He also set up a special club consisting of those people and threw parties for them. Bellatrix was of course in that club since she was not only a Black but also the duelling champion of the school for the last two years. He also started the class with a lecture on the importance of NEWTS and then gave them a potion to make.

* * *

Bellatrix entered the library and saw 'him' studying on his own at a table in the back. She took a book from the shelf and sat at his table. She had been observing 'him' for days, discreetly from a distance to remain undetected by his enhanced senses. She learnt that he usually shied away from people in general and loved reading books in the library.

"I see that you are very interested in lycanthropy" Bellatrix said suddenly to gather his attention.

'He' suddenly looked up startled and instinctively tried to hide it away from her view. He blushed as he realized his stupidity.

"Bellatrix Black"

"Remus Lupin"

"It is a hobby.", he said in reply to her questioning look.

Bellatrix was amused to see that for someone who was hiding such a big secret, 'he' really was a bad liar. She chose to put small talk aside and get to the matter at hand.

"You know, my family has associated with creatures of … darker type. We can recognize one of them hiding among us easily. Trying to hide the book on lycanthropy was a dead give away too." Bellatrix sneered at the end.

Lupin paled as realized that she knew his secret. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it back as nothing came out.

"I could tell everyone but I wouldn't gain anything by it, would I?", she paused for the dramatic effect before continuing. Riddle, for all his faults was an exceptional in delivering dramatic speeches.

"I would keep my mouth closed in return for a favour."

"What favour?" he asked fearing the answer.

"I know that my cousin Sirius Black is not only in your house but also your roommate. I want you to befriend him."

"You want me to spy on your cousin?"

Bellatrix tutted.

"I want to have someone I can trust looking out for him. Do you think I haven't noticed the hostile looks those of your house have been giving him?" she snarled at the end, scaring the werewolf.

"Alright. I will do it. But don't you think it will be dangerous for him to be close to a werewolf?"

"No more than he already is, with you being his roommate. Sirius got away with many things that we wouldn't have because he was the Black heir. It would be difficult for him to adjust to the school life. If he was in Slytherin, I would have helped him. Since he is in Gryffindor, you will do that job for me. Do we have a deal here?"

"Yes." and Remus Lupin held out his hand

This was the part where people shake hands. As improved as she was, Bellatrix was not going to shake the hands of a dirty werewolf.

"It is better if Sirius doesn't know about our alliance. I don't want him thinking that I am interfering too much in his life. If you do your job properly and prove your loyalty, I will tell you a way that might help you control the werewolf in you more efficiently."

With the parting shot, Bellatrix walked away leaving 'him' to think about the deal he just made.

* * *

Bellatrix was in the 7th floor facing a wall. She was going to enter the Room Of Requirement. As far as she remembered, to enter the Room of Requirement, you need to cross this wall three times thinking about what you need. She did so all the time thinking about a place with all the facilities to practice her fighting skills. Suddenly, a door appeared on the wall. She opened it and got in. She was amazed by what she saw. On a small shelf in front of her were kept all kinds of weapons from small daggers to katanas and long swords. On a large shelf to her right were a lot of books that she guessed had information about all styles of duelling and muggle martial arts. To her left, there was a punching bag and a wooden cylinder with sticks at different heights and orientations which she guessed were used for practice hitting in muggle martial arts. In a corner was a dummy usually used to practice spell casting. Then there were many other things she had never seen before in her life. There were also many outfits for martial arts and changing rooms. She realized that she had missed out on a lot first time around.

_Draco certainly didn't do it justice when he told me about this room._

Bellatrix smirked internally. The last time she used the Room Of Requirement was to get into Hogwarts to assist her nephew in killing the headmaster. Her nephew had somehow repaired a vanishing cabinet and kept it here and they had come from the other twin in Borgin & Burkes. She felt amused by the fact that her nephew toiled continuously for a year to achieve something that the room would have done for him in a second had he asked it. Bellatrix idly wondered if her nephew's intelligence came from Lucius or Narcissa.

_Lucius definitely._

She changed into the proper attire and picked up the sword. Sword fighting, even though a muggle art, had been deemed worthy enough to be considered a family tradition. So, everyone in the family was quite good at it. After she was satisfied with her sword fighting skills, she moved on to other tools. After that, she started practicing her dueling skills by casting spells on the dummy. She continued practicing for sometime after which she went back to her dorms.

* * *

She was walking to the old Charms classroom where she had agreed to meet Amelia for their assignment. She entered the room to see Amelia with lips pursed in anger. Apparently, the younger one was as stringent about punctuality as the older one.

"You are late.", Amelia Bones said raising her eyebrow for explanation.

"I had things to take care of. How did your part of the bargain go?"

"I did as you asked me to. I searched the whole library, even the Restricted Section. I didn't find any book on it. Can we change the topic now?"

Bellatrix smirked. _This is going to be fun._

She took out all the books she had collected on the topic from her bag. She relished in the shocked expression on Amelia's face.

"But how did you-"

"I am Bellatrix Black. I have quite the influence in high places, places you have never even heard of."

Amelia huffed at the implication while Bellatrix secretly thanked the Room Of Requirement and the ones who created it, namely the founders.

"Whatever you say. Can we start now?"

"Of course."

Both of them took a book each and started noting down the important information in the book.

* * *

I hope you liked this chapter. The next chapter will have about her gaining the alliance of Frank Longbottom and Lily Evans. It is much more interesting.

I am planning on having a ruthless and fanatical female Death Eater in this story who is worse than Bellatrix was and many more similarly fanatical Death Eaters. I have noticed that in many time travel fics, it becomes easier for the one who travelled back in time, too easy to be interesting. I am actually going to make it tougher for her. This fresh start is as much of a punishment for her as it is a second chance. I am going to give you all a chance to either recommend characters you created or any that already exist in canon. They should be from dark, pureblood family but not Greengrass or Davis. I am thinking of a Zabini for the female as not much is known about them though any other name of any other family will be considered.

I would appreciate it if you all give me more reviews and suggestions as it will inspire me to update more frequently.


	3. Dueling Tournament

**Disclaimer :**I do not own Harry Potter but I wish I owned Bellatrix Black.

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' ' – Thoughts

" " – Speaking in English

" " – _Speaking in Parseltongue_

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**The Rise of Bellatrix Black  
**

**3 : Dueling Competition**

_Previously …_

_She was walking to the old Charms classroom where she had agreed to meet Amelia for their assignment. She entered the room to see Amelia with lips pursed in anger. Apparently, the younger one is as stringent about punctuality as the older one._

"_You are late.", she said raising her eyebrow for explanation._

"_I had things to take care of. How did your part of the bargain go?"_

"_I did as you asked me to. I searched the whole library, even the Restricted Section. I didn't find any book on it. Can we change the topic now?"_

_Bellatrix smirked._

'_This is going to be fun.'_

_She took out all the books she had collected on the topic from her bag. She relished in the shocked expression on her face._

"_But how did you-"_

"_I am Bellatrix Black. I have quite the influence in high places, places you have never even heard of."_

_Amelia huffed at the implication while Bellatrix secretly thanked the Room Of Requirement and the ones who created it._

"_Whatever you say. Can we start now?"_

"_Of course."_

_Both of them took a book each and started noting down the important information in the book._

* * *

Bellatrix came back to the Slytherin commons to see many people standing in front of the notice board. She looked at it and saw that there were some small changes made to the dueling tournament this year. Usually, everyone who had entered their name would be sorted according the house. In preliminary rounds, the students would duel others of the same house. The overall winner would then represent the house in the semi finals. In semi finals, the opponents would be chosen by lot and the winners would go on to fight for the ultimate title in an epic final. The only change this year was that the semifinalists would get quarter of the marks for the final exams. She knew that it was an incentive to get more students to participate in the tournament. She remembered that she was the only one who had entered from Slytherin last year. The OWL and NEWT students usually preferred to study for their exams rather than participate in the competition. This new change was specifically designed to bring them in. She entered her name in the list. It would be a good way to confirm that she can now fight a duel without resorting to Dark curses.

* * *

She was searching through the shelves in the library for new spells when she saw a familiar redhead sitting at a table in the far end going through a thick book. She looked at her properly to understand why she was so familiar. It suddenly occurred to her that this was Lily Evans. Lily was small even for an eleven year old. Bellatrix knew that she would remain in the shorter side her whole life, something her son would inherit. She was discretely glancing at the entrance frequently as if she was waiting for someone.

Bellatrix took a book from the shelf and sat at her table.

"Are you a first year?", she asked.

Lily looked up startled for a moment before she replied, "Yes."

"I am Bellatrix Black", she said.

"Lily Evans. Any relation to Sirius Black?", she asked raising her eyebrow.

"We are first cousins.", she said shrugging nonchalantly.

Lily nodded in understanding.

"I couldn't help but notice that everyone was surprised at Sirius Black being sorted into Gryffindor.", Lily asked looking at her for explanation.

"In wizarding world, there are different types of pureblood families. The first type is the Light side. They believe that the magic they brand as 'light' is good magic and the people who practice it are good while other fields of magic are evil and those who practice it are evil. They refuse to accept that magic, light or dark, is a neutral entity. Not many understand that magic is just a tool and what matters is how the tool is used. The second type is the Dark side. They believe in the neutrality of magic. Some use magic for malicious purposes while others use it for good purposes. The last type is the neutral side. They prefer to 'sit on the fence'; I believe that is the correct muggle expression.", she said with a thoughtful look.

She looked at Lily who just nodded in confirmation.

She continued, "In Slytherin, members of Dark families make up the majority while the rest are neutrals. Ravenclaw has majority neutrals and the rest from dark. Gryffindor is filled with members of Light families with almost no neutral let alone anyone from Dark family. Well known dark families like Blacks, Malfoys, Rosiers have all been in Slytherin with one or two exceptions while Light families like Potters and Longbottoms have all being in Gryffindor. Other than an ancestor of ours, who became a Ravenclaw few centuries ago, Sirius is the only Black to not get into Slytherin and he is the first in the long history of the Blacks to be a Gryffindor."

"Does everyone in the Slytherin believe in pureblood supremacy?", Lily asked.

"No. Those from powerful and influential families believe in it while those who don't wisely keep their mouth shut. I know that you will give me a similar answer if I ask whether everyone in Gryffindor believes that all Slytherins are evil. Majority believe it while those who don't keep their mouth shut. They know that anyone who admits that they don't believe in it will be branded evil and become outcasts in their own house.", Bellatrix said.

Lily was looking shocked now. She had no idea that the people in her own house were that narrow minded.

"But you are nice."

Bellatrix couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the statement. She soon got her laughter in control as she remembered that they were in the library.

"I will give you an important advice, Evans. Choose your allies wisely. Trust as less people as you can and always have a back plan in place to execute when any of the trusted betrays you.", Bellatrix replied.

Lily Evans nodded.

"Are you waiting for someone? You seem to glance at the entrance once in a while.", Bellatrix asked.

"Well, I was checking whether my friend was coming. We usually study together.", Lily replied.

"In that case, I won't intrude on your privacy any longer. I have a lot of work to do. It was nice conversing with a young mind. See you later."

She went back to the shelves to check for the book that she required inwardly smirking at her success. She knew that Lily Evans was a naïve, innocent eleven year old trying to fit in. By imparting some knowledge to her, which she would have learned on her own, she made sure that Lily would look up to her and see her as a guiding figure.

* * *

She had been so focused in her training that she missed the curfew. It was very late as the curfew for the fifth years and above was at 12. She had no plans of getting caught and serving detentions. So, she asked the room to provide a secret passage by which she can go directly to Slytherin commons without getting caught. She saw a door suddenly appear on one side of the room. She opened the door to see a rugged stone passage that she knew led all the way down. After walking for a long time, she reached what looked like a door. She opened it slightly and heard some people talking. She recognized one voice to be Rodolphus'. She couldn't place the others. So, she opened the door a little more and looked through the opening. She saw Rodolphus with the other members of his gang: Rabastan, Avery, Mulciber and the Carrow twins.

"We have ensured that you will be the only other Slytherin in the dueling tournament. What is the next step?", Rabastan asked.

Bellatrix was shocked. She had wondered why many people who gave their names for the competition later withdrew it. She knew now.

"Next step? I will impress Bella with my dueling abilities, of course. She only wants someone who can accept that she is a better fighter than him. Not only will I be that person but I will also encourage her to use her dueling skills more. The dark lord will be pleased with my success in bringing the Black family to his side.", Rodolphus said haughtily.

Bellatrix grimaced. He made her look like a desperate witch. She was anything but desperate. She remembered that the very reason she was impressed with him was because he encouraged her rather than discourage her like many others had done. She knew now that he had learned it from her cousin, Evan Rosier as they were very close since childhood and she had confided this in him. He was a year above her and had joined the Dark Lord in the summer before his seventh year. She had already accepted the fact that he had never loved her as much as she had loved him but knowing that it was mainly to ensure her family's loyalty to the Dark Lord was a big blow to her. She was very furious now but she kept her anger in control. She knew that she would face him soon in the tournament. She would take him down a peg or two then. She was too deep in her thoughts that she almost missed the next sentence.

"Don't you think you are getting ahead of yourself, Rodolphus? She is not that stupid. What if she suspects something?", Avery said.

'I was that stupid but not anymore.' Bella thought furiously.

"Everything will happen as per the plan, you just see. She will not suspect a thing.", Rodolphus replied smirking.

After that, they continued talking about other potential recruits to their cause. She knew that she cannot enter the common room until they are gone. So, she waited listening to them talk about trivial things. After what felt like half an hour they got up and went back to their dorms. After making sure that they were gone, she got off the passage. She looked back to realize that she had just come down from a portrait. She silently went off to her dorms and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Soon, the day of her duel with Rodolphus arrived. Even as Bellatrix Black, she was better than the present Rodolphus Lestrange. She knew that with the personal training she got from the Dark Lord and her years of experience as a Death Eater, he stood no chance. But, she had lost to those nowhere near as well as her because she got cocky and she was not going to risk that here. So, she had trained hard every day in Room Of Requirement for the coming duel. She would humiliate him in such a way that he will wish he was never born.

* * *

Rodolphus opened his eyes with some effort. He realized that he couldn't move and panicked for a moment. He forced himself to relax and looked around. Everything was white around him. He wondered how he ended up in this predicament. The last thing he could remember was going to duel Bellatrix.

"You are awake at last. Good. How are you feeling?"

He turned his head to see the school mediwitch looking at him.

'How did I end up in Hospital Wing?'

He narrowed his eyes at her and haughtily said, "I would feel better if I could move."

"Your injuries are so great that I believe you will require few more weeks to regain your mobility.", she said.

He was shocked. He had thought till now that she had put the Body Bind on him.

"What about the Dueling Tournament?", he asked.

"That is the reason you are here, you idiot.", another voice said.

He turned his head and got the shock of his life. He didn't understand why Narcissa was there. He looked more closely and realized that it was not Narcissa but her cousin Drucilla Rosier. They were similar in looks and were indistinguishable at first glance but Narcissa had an angelic face while Drucilla's were more angular and refined. Drucilla was the daughter of Tanya Rosier nee Nott and Edward Rosier. She was in Rabastan's year and had been interested in him for over a year. Then, he suddenly remembered what she had told.

"What happened at the duel? Did I lose?", he asked feeling a sense of dread rising within him.

'That had to be the case. Why else will I be here?', he thought.

His head was pounding every time he tried to remember and so he had given up and decided to hear it from someone else.

"No. You were outright humiliated. She made you look like a first year.", she replied coldly.

When she told him, her features were scrunched as if she had to put some effort to get the words out. He remembered that Drucilla and Bellatrix were enemies from the moment they set their eyes on each other. She had always taken every achievement of Bellatrix as a personal insult. He mused that his pursuing of Bellatrix must have been quite a blow for her.

'I guess it wouldn't matter much anymore. It is obvious that I had failed in my objectives.' he thought gritting his teeth in anger.

He closed his eyes and tried not to think about the consequences of his failure. He silently berated himself for believing that it would be that easy. He opened his eyes and looked at the girl in front of him. She was not a Black but she was her Aunt Druella Black's favorite after Narcissa. He wondered whether he can exploit that to bring the Black family to their side. He inwardly sighed as he realized that it was the closest he would get to achieving his objectives. He was about to ask her whether they could go out some time when the school mediwitch returned.

"Miss Rosier, I believe it is time for you to return to your dorms. It is only ten minutes to the curfew. Mr. Lestrange needs to rest.", she said firmly.

She looked like she was about to protest but then turned and walked out of the Hospital Wing. He sighed again but this time he did not bother to hide it. He seemed to be having the worst luck these days.

* * *

The days passed, and soon enough, it was the day of semifinal duel. A well prepared Bellatrix Black arrived on the first floor right in front of the Great Hall and walked into the room that was filled with fifth, sixth and seventh years.

"Welcome everyone", their DADA Professor Madeline White said in a loud voice, walking along a wooden platform that was in the center of the room. It was about ten feet wide and forty feet long, more than enough space for duelists to easily move around.

"I would like to thank you for coming to this year's dueling competition. Now, before I announce the four participants in our semifinal round, I would like to tell you all that next year we will be having house dueling clubs. The leaders of the clubs will be chosen at the beginning of the next school year. The clubs will allow you all to grow and expand your knowledge, all the while teaching you the necessary skills to survive the dangers lying ahead of you."

She paused and looked out at the students with a slight smile.

"So, without any further delay, will the four semifinalists step onto the platform.", she yelled looking out at the group that encircled the platform expectantly.

Bellatrix climbed onto the platform with a grace that showed her aristocratic upbringing while others jumped onto it.

"And here they are- the four house champions!", Professor White screamed, earning a round of applause from everyone in attendance.

"Representing Hufflepuff is Otto Bagman!", Madeline gestured to the Hufflepuff boy who bowed deeply to the crowd.

She didn't know much about him other than that he was in his fifth year. She wondered whether his entry into the semi-final was due to his exemplary dueling skills or due to the lack of skills of his housemates in general.

"Representing Ravenclaw is Derrick Jordan!"

Derrick waved and smiled to everyone.

"Gryffindor's representative is Frank Longbottom!"

Frank grinned as his friends began to hoot, making many of the sixth years laugh.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes.

'Typical Gryffindors.'

"And finally, the one female of our contest and representing Slytherin, Bellatrix Black!"

While all houses clapped, the other three houses were less enthusiastic with Bellatrix as they were with the other representatives.

"Let's give one more applause for our four champions!", Madeline said clapping her hands together in order to garner more applause from the other students.

"Now, just like your qualifiers, there are rules : you cannot intentionally try to injure your opponent severely.", a smirk came on to Bellatrix's face as she saw everyone look at her on hearing that, "you must stop the duel if I tell you to stop, and this should go without saying, you must abide by the laws of the Ministry of Magic, as well as the rules and regulations of the European Magical Dueling Commission. If you step off the platform during your duel or even touch the floor in any way, you forfeit your match. If you stay down for longer than thirty seconds, whether unconscious or otherwise unable or unwilling to get up, you forfeit the match. Finally if you are disarmed by the opponent and cannot get to the wand before your opponent makes you give, you forfeit your match. Are there any questions?"

"Can you start the duels now?", an impatient voice in the crowd yelled earning a bout of laughter from those in attendance.

"Good, now if the two of you could come over here and reach into this bag, we can pair up who will duel who in the semi-final round.", Madeline ordered pulling a black velvet bag out from her inner robes.

"I have written your names on a piece of parchment which are all folded up and placed inside here. Whosever name you draw, as long as it is not your own, is who you will be dueling, with the winners of the two duels moving on to the final round."

Bellatrix and Frank reached their hands in and picked out a crumpled piece of parchment. She looked down at hers and saw Otto Bagman written on it. She gave a nod to him confirming that they will be dueling.

"And now, to start the semi-final round, we pit Otto Bagman of Hufflepuff against Bellatrix Black of Slytherin!", Madeline called out allowing the other semi-finalists to jump off the platform and take their places in the crowd.

Bellatrix centered herself on the platform, across from Bagman, who looked nervously back at her. She gave him a piercing glare and then a predatory grin. He lost any little bravery he had. He paled and started shivering in fear. She couldn't blame him as the last person to whom she had given that grin hasn't yet returned from the Infirmary even after a month. He took a few breaths to get back in control and tightened his hold on the wand in determination.

"Duelists bow", Madeline ordered, as Bellatrix gave him a curt bow.

"Ready, one, two, three, duel!", Madeline yelled and then jumped down on to the floor to watch the duel with other students.

"Stupefy!", Otto Bagman called out, thrusting his wand out at her in a clumsy fashion.

She deflected it back at him with a slight flick of her wand. Bagman was caught off guard and was forced to frantically jump out of the way in order to avoid being hit. Seeing an opening in her opponent's defenses, she sent a Disarming charm at him but it was deflected away by the Shield charm that Otto had conjured in response. She looked on as the boy caught his breath. She knew that he was nowhere near her abilities and decided to let him have some time before she beats him. He then sent a barrage of spells all of which she easily sidestepped. She suddenly rolled forward out of the path of a hex and cast the Silencing charm on him. She knew well that being a fifth year he had no idea how to cast a nonverbal spell. As she expected, he tried to cast a spell many times but failed. She disarmed him and took his wand in her hands ending the duel.

"And the winner of the first match is Bellatrix Black of Slytherin.", Madeline shouted.

Everyone politely applauded. She stepped off from the platform into the crowd.

"Now for the next match, we pit Frank Longbottom of Gryffindor and Derrick Jordan of Ravenclaw!", Madeline called out allowing both of them to jump on to the platform.

They both got into their dueling stances after bowing to each other. Derrick started with a stunner which Frank deflected. They started exchanging spells while Bellatrix noted their weaknesses. Even if Longbottom had a much better chance, it did not hurt to be cautious. She noted that while Jordan was neither as magically powerful as Longbottom nor had his spell repertoire he knew his strengths and weaknesses well and was playing accordingly. He was quite quick on his feet and used that to his advantage. He neither cast powerful spells nor did he waste his energy putting up shields. He kept dodging every spell Longbottom cast. After about ten minutes, a stunner hit Jordan knocking him down.

"And the winner of the second match is Frank Longbottom of Gryffindor!", Madeline yelled earning applause from everyone present.

"Today's winners Bellatrix Black of Slytherin and Frank Longbottom of Gryffindor will meet next week for their final round. Let's give one more applause to our finalists.", she said clapping along with others.

* * *

Bellatrix spent the next few days practicing in the Room of Requirement. She knew very well how important the coming duel was. The duel against Rodolphus was a chance at revenge while that against Bagman was entertainment but the one against Longbottom is chance to prove her worth as a leader. She wondered whether this was what Rodolphus had in mind when he had planned to impress her.

"You dueled well, you know.", a voice said startling her.

Bellatrix looked up from her research to see Amelia reading as though nothing had happened. She wondered what made Amelia do something so out of character like initiating a conversation in the middle of her research but then decided to follow her example.

"I didn't really do anything.", Bellatrix replied.

"Exactly. You never did anything. So, your opponents didn't get a chance to note your weaknesses.", Amelia said looking up at her this time.

"I don't understand what you mean.", Bellatrix replied evasively.

"It is amusing to see so many calling themselves Slytherins when they don't have a single cunning cell in their body. But, you on the other hand, are a true Slytherin. You put Rodolphus in the Hospital Wing during your duel and spread the news instilling fear of you in your opponents. You used this to your advantage in your semi-final duel against Otto Bagman. Everything was planned from the beginning. I certainly am interested to know what you have planned for Frank Longbottom but I know that you won't tell me. So, I will be watching the final duel carefully.", Amelia said smirking at the end.

Even though Bellatrix knew how cunning and sly Amelia could be, she was still surprised to see that she had worked out the whole plan.

"I am impressed with your deductions so far. Was I so obvious that _you_ saw through everything?", Bellatrix asked.

Amelia ignored the insult and said, "I didn't see it until your duel against Bagman. He is actually a good duelist who reached the semi-final by beating many others who were older and more advanced than him. But, when he came in front of you, he became a blubbering mess and ended up making a fool out of himself."

"I do know that you are not telling me all this just to impress me with your excellent deductive powers. So, what do you have in mind? ", Bellatrix asked looking at her curiously.

"What if I am?", Amelia asked with a smirk on her face.

"Then I should inform you that I don't swing the other way.", Bellatrix said nonchalantly causing the other girl to glare.

"Alright. I will tell you. I have already seen that we work well as a team. You are quite good at what you do. I have many plans for the future and I don't want such a dangerous person as my enemy. So, I propose that we form a mutually benefitting alliance.", Amelia said looking at her with a calculating look on her face.

Bellatrix was initially shocked that Amelia was the one making the proposition but quickly got over it.

"Are you indirectly telling me that you want the support of the Black family when you run for the post of Minister of Magic?"

Amelia flushed in embarrassment and said, "I haven't planned anything of that sort. I was taking the appropriate measures just in case."

Bellatrix smirked. Her reaction had given away her thoughts.

"If you continue to work as hard as you do, you will become the Minister of Magic in twenty five years.", she said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone.

Bellatrix knew that Amelia would have become the Minister in her original universe if she wasn't murdered by Dolohov.

"Twenty five? How can you be so sure as to give me an exact number? Are you a seer?", Amelia asked in wonder to which she shrugged.

"May be. Don't you think you are deciding things a little early? After all, I could lose against Longbottom.", Bellatrix replied.

"The result of the final round is immaterial. You have already shown me how good you are. It also helps that I know that you are going to win.", Amelia said with a smirk.

Bellatrix lifted a sardonic eyebrow in response and then nodded in agreement. They shook hands starting what will later be a well known and long lasting friendship.

"Now, tell me what your plans are?"

* * *

"Welcome everyone", Madeline White yelled standing up on a platform on the Saturday of the final round of the dueling tournament.

"Welcome to the championship match of our annual dueling tournament. Today we have a great contest between Frank Longbottom of Gryffindor", she called out pointing to the young wizard on the platform.

When Frank's name was announced, there was an immediate flood of cheers from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws while Slytherins were expectedly silent.

"And his opponent Slytherin's champion Bellatrix Black!"

Slytherins clapped politely while the others were less enthusiastic.

"The rules are just the same as the semi-final round, with a disarming and inability to fetch your wand counting as forfeit, and touching the floor outside of the platform or unconsciousness each counting as loss."

In the center of the dueling platform, Bellatrix's gaze moved around the room before they fell upon Amelia and they shared a smirk. After they had decided on their alliance, they had decided many things one of which was bringing the Longbottom heir to their side. She knew that with Amelia on her side, she would be able to bypass the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry easily.

"Duelists bow", Madeline said finally, her voice cutting through the hall, earning her attention as they both bowed to each other.

"Ready, one, two, three, duel!"

They observed each other for close to a minute trying to find a weakness in the other's stance before Longbottom twirled his wand and sent a jinx at her.

'Gryffindors and their impatience'

She deflected it back to him using the Dirigible shield. Frank's eyes widened in surprise initially and then ducked out of the way easily and returned another jinx. She let the jinx come close to her giving her opponent hope before crushing it by sidestepping at the last moment. She relished the disappointment she saw in his face. She sent a stunner at him which he deflected. He then sent a yellow colored spell at her. She conjured a stone and used it to block the spell. Jetting his wand outwards, he sent a flame towards her which later turned ice blue color and shaped itself into an arrow. It nailed her shield fizzling into nothing. The platform began to shake suddenly as if an earthquake had begun. At first it was a few soft shakes, but eventually, the shaking grew so violent that Bellatrix fell to the ground, unable to get back on her feet. She held on to the platform as tightly as she could, trying to keep herself from being flung off on to the floor. She thanked herself for going through with the intense physical training without which she would have already been on the floor and out of the tournament. A drop of sweat fell off from her forehead, followed by others, due to the effort she put.

She then decided that enough was enough and slammed her hand on the ground thinking 'Finite Incantatum'

A few moments later, the platform stopped trembling and Frank looked over at Bellatrix, a mixture of surprise and shock on his face. She got up quickly and conspicuously placed her right hand behind her. Seeing her own sweat had given her an idea and she wanted to keep him distracted until it is ready.

Frank Longbottom suddenly saw his opponent start her attack. She was casting spells so quickly that he didn't have time for anything other than blocking. She was sending a wide variety of spells from the Tripping Jinx and stunners to more powerful curses. He was finding it difficult to alternate between different shields. After what felt like twenty minutes, he started feeling weary and tired. He was shocked that even after casting continuously for nearly twenty minutes, she did not even show any effort. She suddenly sent a flock of birds at him. He put up a shield in preparation but the birds exploded before it came in contact with the shield causing feathers to float about in air blocking his view. He cleared them to see a jet of water rushing towards him. The thing that shocked him was that it was coming from her hand rather than her wand. He hastily put up a shield but the jet of water blasted through the shield and threw him off the platform. Midway through the flight, he felt his wand flying away from his hand and instinctively knew that it was going to Bellatrix's hands. His back hit the floor and he lost his consciousness soon after.

Bellatrix looked around to see that everyone was silent apparently shocked at her prowess in wandless magic. She got down from the platform and revived Longbottom.

"You fought well. Well done.", Bellatrix complemented returning his wand.

She saw him looking at her in shock and smirked. At that moment, everyone came out of their shock and started clapping, even some Gryffindors.

"And the winner is Bellatrix Black of Slytherin!", Madeline White yelled out as another round of applause erupted.

"But let's hear it for both of our competitors; they both performed well."

There was another round of applause following that statement. Bellatrix couldn't help but be proud of herself. She had been working on that piece of magic ever since she came to Hogwarts and was ecstatic to see that it worked perfectly. She knew that she still had a long way to go before she can reach the level of Lord Voldemort and she promised herself that she would work hard for it.

* * *

Bellatrix Black walked out of her home and stopped just outside the wards. She concentrated on the feeling of being squeezed through a tube and she saw the surroundings blurring. She willed herself to rise and she was soon flying. The wizarding world firmly believed that flying without the assistance of a charmed object like broomstick or flying carpet was impossible. Lord Voldemort had shattered that belief by doing just that. After a long time of observation and experimentation, she had found out the trick. She had felt greatly amused then when she had realized that it was just a slower variation of the silent apparition the Death Eaters did. She had kept her knowledge secret from everyone including her lord. She landed in front of Gringotts and entered it.

She went up to the goblin teller and said, "I would like to access my vault."

"Your name, please."

"Bellatrix Black"

She saw him writing something in a paper and another goblin quickly came. They took a cart that went deep into the cave. She reached her vault and was reminded of the last time she was here. She could see that she already had a lot of money in her vault which was only going to increase after the inheritances she was going to get. She took some money from the pile and put into her moleskin pouch.

She asked the goblin, "If I transfer all the contents of this vault to another vault which only I can access and I happen to get disowned sometime in the future, I wouldn't lose anything, would I?"

"Well, the rule states that when you are disowned, your vault and its contents are confiscated as it is ultimately the family property. So, if there is nothing in it, you lose nothing. But, there is another rule stating that you cannot close the vault belonging to a family. But there is no rule barring you from having only one knut in the vault.", the goblin said smirking at the end.

The goblins always loved it when there was any chaos or commotion among the wizarding kind. It always amused them to see the wizards fighting amongst themselves. He could tell that the woman was going to cause quite a shake up with whatever she was planning. Also, if the woman did decide to transfer everything, they could make good profit from it.

"Then, leave a knut and transfer everything else to a different vault that only I can access. You can take the compensation for the costs involved from it. Also, everything I inherit or earn from now on should go to the new vault."

"What protection would you prefer for the new vault?"

She thought for a moment and said, "For now, the standard package is enough but I might change it later."

"Of course."

They returned using the cart and she then decided to do some Yule shopping.

* * *

She took an interesting book from the shelf and sat on the table Lupin was reading a book.

"How were the holidays for you?"

Remus Lupin looked up to see Bellatrix reading a book as if she hadn't said anything. He knew very well that she didn't care but still decided to humor her.

"It was nice seeing my parents after so long.", he replied.

She kept silent for some time and said, "How is everything going?"

Remus knew well what she was talking about.

"We aren't friends yet. You could call us acquaintances."

"There is no hurry. Sirius will find out soon enough about your condition and confront you.", she said nonchalantly.

He paled on hearing that. He knew that he couldn't hide it forever but the possibility of that confrontation scared him more than he had liked to admit. Even if they weren't friends yet, he had experienced the first semblance of friendship after he was bitten and didn't want to lose it.

"You will realize that sometimes honesty is really the best policy.", she said before leaving him to his thoughts.

* * *

"I believe this is the last time we will be meeting.", Bellatrix said.

"I guess", Lupin replied.

He had become used to her suddenly speaking up and so he wasn't startled.

"As you have been cooperative lately, I will keep my promise.", she said.

He was initially confused but then remembered their first conversation. She had promised to tell him a way to manage his lycantropy more efficiently. If her idea worked, he would be in her debt. That knowledge is definitely worth the danger of being in the debt of someone like Bellatrix Black. He leaned forward not wanting to miss anything.

"Usually people who have lycantropy sees the werewolf in them as a curse. Being a werewolf is like two people staying in a room meant for one. If you hate him, he will hate you back. If you create problems for him in the hope that he will move away, he will reciprocate. In the end, both of you will be miserable. It is easier to make a deal with him. There is no use in staying in denial. The werewolf in you is like a child. Punish him for bad behavior and reward him for good behavior but be patient with him and give him the chance to learn from his mistakes like you would a child. Werewolves are in the same family as dogs. So, they, like dogs, can't stand being locked up. They would need to be let out once in a while. So, instead of waiting for the full moon where they force their way out, let him out once in two nights or something. Then it will be easier on you during full moon."

She paused and held out her hand when he looked like he was about to speak. She knew it would be some pathetic ranting about self sacrifice and how he does not want to hurt anyone. He was a Gryffindor after all.

"It was just an idea which may or may not work as you intend to. I suggest you give this idea to the school matron and let her weigh the risks involved and make a proper decision. Don't forget that I want my name kept out of everything. It it works, you will owe me.", she said before going on her way.

* * *

She was too busy in the next few months studying for her NEWTs that she didn't have any time for plotting. Soon, the exams began. They had Charms first day which was very easy for her as the assignment she and Amelia did was judged the best in their year. After learning the Fidelius and the Unplottability charms, the charms that they were told to perform looked mediocre. Next day, they had Transfiguration. Even though she still had a dislike for McGonnagall, her hard work paved off and she did well. She also did well in Ancient Runes exam that happened next day. Next day was Defense Against Dark Arts. The look on the examiner's face was enough to know how well she did. She wondered whether she had set a new record for the highest marks ever. Next day, she had Magical Law and Politics which she was sure he would pass with flying colors. Next two days were Arithmancy and Potions which she knew that she did well even if not to the level of Charms or Defense Against Dark Arts.

Soon her last day in the school came. In spite of herself, she felt nostalgic knowing that she might not return here ever. She took her trunk and quickly went to the unofficial Slytherin compartment. Soon, the train started moving and she made small talk with some others. She noticed that her _favorite_ cousin Drucilla was literally hanging on to Rodolphus' arm and giving her smug looks every now and then. She wondered whether she should tell her what she had entered into but then realized that telling her would only encourage her to go deeper into the hole that she had dug up for herself. After a long journey of eight hours, the train finally reached King's Cross station. She left the train to see her parents waiting for her in the platform. She apparated home with the others hoping that the coming summer will be uneventful.

* * *

Wwlve25 : Thanks. I can't believe I made that mistake.

Lady Mendenhall's Horse : I see that you haven't understood what exactly had happened.

As I have already said before, I got the idea from the story Change of Heart. In that story, Bellatrix doesn't die during the Battle of Hogwarts. Instead, she goes into coma and wakes up after more than a decade. Voldemort doesn't die either as he had made a horcrux no one else knew about. As Voldemort is too weak to withstand the backlash of a Resurrection ritual, he uses an old ritual he had learned about in the Chamber of Secrets to send Bellatrix back in time by sacrificing himself. Due to the ritual, the soul of Bellatrix Lestrange goes back in time and merges with the soul of an eleven year old Bellatrix Black. Salazar designed the ritual in such a way that older soul will always be the dominant one. Same thing happens here. But, here, as the time travel happened accidentally, Bellatrix Black's soul is the dominant one. Due to that same reason, she will only have some memories in the beginning and will slowly gain memories with time. If you are hoping for a kind, loving Bellatrix, you will have to wait for a long time. It will take some time for her to learn and understand friendship and the importance of caring for people outside your family.

As for the out of character stuff, every character in my story till now is already an adult in canon. So, we have no way of knowing how they will behave when they were children. For example, I personally believe that Sirius didn't hate his family before he was treated as a disgrace for being in Gryffindor. In my story, he will still be a Gryffindor fanatic who believes that his house is better than Slytherin but he won't sink down to the level he did in canon.

Blazen : The only thing she knows about Snape is that he is an untrustworthy half-blood double agent. There are many other reasons which I am stating separately.

everyone : Bellatrix Black is an intelligent woman who knows well that every change she makes will influence many other things which may result in Voldemort's victory. So, she will only manipulates certain conditions, says the right words at right time and so on to make sure that she ends up in a prominent position in the winning side. She is not selfless or kind. She will not interfere in trivial things like James Potter's hatred of Severus Snape. She will mostly let things happen the way they did originally because Voldemort lost in the end. It is only after that Halloween, where Voldemort loses his power, will she start making the real changes.

As to clear any doubts, Bellatrix will be playing an important role in Harry Potter's life but that will only come much later in the story.

Also, I am interested to know how many people guessed the character that I had decided to use. There will be a role for Lady Zabini though you will have to continue reading to know what the role is.

In the beginning, I had planned to write about Bellatrix not joining the Death Eaters and then skip on to Harry's life but I changed my mind later. So, I cannot update quickly. I am not sure whether this should be a Bella/Harry pairing or Bella mentoring Harry. I would appreciate all the suggestions.

Please read and review.


	4. Andromeda's Issues

**Disclaimer :**I do not own Harry Potter but I wish I owned Bellatrix Black.

* * *

' ' – Thoughts

" " – Speaking in English

" " – _Speaking in Parseltongue_

* * *

**Summary: **

_Formerly Bella's Redemption. A series of events result in Bellatrix being disgraced in the Death Eater circle. When an accidental activation of a heirloom results in passing along of her memories to her younger self, she decides that it is a good opportunity to settle some old scores and refrain from making certain mistakes. It is mainly Bellatrix but Harry Potter comes in later chapters._

* * *

**The Rise of Bellatrix Black**

**4 : Andromeda's Issues **

**July 1973 – One Year Later**

_Bella_

_I am in a bit of trouble. I need your help. I will explain everything when we meet._

_Andy_

Bellatrix had gotten this letter few days before. She had already read it many times in her attempts to extract as much information as possible. She was good at reading between the lines but there was only so much she could do when there were not many lines to begin with. She tried to use her futuristic knowledge but she never came up with anything. They had exchanged many letters after that and decided the place and time to meet. The meeting was on next day and she had no idea what problem she will be facing. The only thing she understood was that the matter was sensitive enough to require a face to face meeting. She did not have to be an Auror trainee to know that.

She felt amused by the fact that someone like her who mocked and jeered at the incompetence of the Aurors was now training to be an Auror. It was quite an irony. She had initially laughed when Amelia had proposed it. She had no interest in being surrounded by incompetents. It was after she really thought about it for some time that she realized the brilliance of the plan. After all, there was a saying that the only thing worse than a dark lord is a dark lord with a badge. It is not that she was planning to be a dark lady or something. She was after power and the best way is to join the Ministry and rise up the ranks. As the Ministry was filled with idiots, it would be very easy to use them to fuel her rise to power. She would need every bit of power and influence she could get to combat Lord Voldemort. After she thought out everything, she joined the Auror force with Amelia. Her mother was not happy with her decision but her father had managed to convince her. She didn't know anyone other than Amelia when she had just joined but it did not take long for her to make acquaintances. She shook off her errant thoughts and concentrated on the present dilemma.

* * *

She apparated outside the Leaky Cauldron. She entered the Diagon Alley and then crossed the wall to Leisure Alley. She quickly reached the German restaurant Exklusiv and went to their family section. Leisure Alley was only known to the rich and influential persons of the British wizarding world. The restaurants there frequently play host to many meetings between the top officials. As the Black family owned the majority of shares, they had their own section which was so saturated with privacy wards and safety wards that no one outside can even see what is inside let alone harm anyone. She entered the section to see that Andromeda was already sitting there waiting for her. She could see that her sister was anxious.

"Let's have a peaceful lunch before discussing the problem.", Bellatrix said sitting down.

Andromeda nodded as she was too nervous to speak.

They ate a quick lunch.

"Now, tell me what the problem is.", Bellatrix said.

She saw her sister fidgeting with the helm of her robes. She figured that it must be a really big problem for her sister to lose composure like this.

"Bella … I think I am pregnant.", Andromeda replied.

Her eyes widened in shock. She had never expected this. She thought back to what she knew of the future. She suddenly remembered that she did have a half-blood metamorphagus for a niece. She concentrated on those memories and remembered that the girl-Nymphadora had just completed a year as a qualified Auror when they met in the Ministry. She did some mental calculation and realized that Andromeda was now pregnant with that girl. She inwardly berated herself for being too busy making grand plans for world domination that she had forgotten about her own sister. As far as she remembered, the girl was not much to speak of either in looks or in fighting skills but she did not have the privilege of getting training from one of the most powerful witches ever. If she helped her sister now, she would owe her a pretty big favor, something she could exploit in the future. Besides, she wanted to personally test the limits of the girl. She shook off her thoughts as she realized that she had again gone off making grand plans and decided to focus on the present.

"Are you sure of it?", Bellatrix asked calmly to the surprise of the younger girl.

"Well, I have been missing my periods for two months now. I have even started having morning sickness. I did the test for pregnancy and it came positive.", Andromeda replied more relaxed now.

"Then, I will do the test and see. It is a good thing we have bathrooms in our section. This is something we can't risk others find out.", she said.

They got up and went to the bathroom. Andromeda lifted up her top to expose her stomach.

Bellatrix did the pregnancy spell.

Her stomach started glowing pink showing that it was a girl. They returned to their seats.

"You never asked me who the father is?", Andromeda asked.

"I already know that it is the mudblood's spawn.", she replied casually.

She laughed when she saw her sister looking absolutely shocked.

"Did you really think your sneaking around with the Tonks boy was a secret? I mean no offense but you would make a horrible spy.", she said.

"So … will you help me?", she asked.

"Why would I help you?", Bella asked in return.

Even though she had decided to help her sister, Bellatrix had more sense than to agree readily. She knew that she could only exploit the situation properly if she shows some reluctance before agreeing. Andromeda's face clearly showed the desperation she felt.

"You did help out Sirius?", Andromeda said hesitantly.

"That is different. Not getting into Slytherin is not a big deal. Many generations of Black children had married non-Slytherins. The Potter boy is not only a pure blood but also Sirius' second cousin.", Bellatrix replied.

"You can make up your own explanations but we both know that you are not any different from me. I saw you talking with a red headed girl in the library. I am sure that she is at least a half-blood if not a muggleborn.", Andromeda said.

"Apparently, the expression 'getting acquainted' has different meaning for both of us.", Bellatrix replied.

She smirked when she saw that her comment had hit the mark.

She continued, "I will be honest with you. I am not as much into blood purity as our parents. I believe that talent and power are more important than blood purity. Evans doesn't have any connections now but she is a very intelligent and hard working girl who will go far in life. Tell me what the Tonks boy has to deserve a girl from the Noble and the Most Ancient House of Black : pure blood, money, power, contacts in high places, important people owing him favors, any special talent, good looks, a brain at least."

"If you are not interested in helping me, I would appreciate if you just said so rather than insult my boyfriend.", Andromeda said coldly getting up.

Bellatrix now knew that she had reached her limits.

"I never said that I will not help you. I will help you of course but you will owe me a debt, a debt that I will collect later on.", she said.

She sat back down and said, "How are you going to help me?"

"You are already of age, I assume.", Bella stated.

"Yes, I am.", Andy confirmed.

"Then get up and follow me", Bella said getting up herself.

* * *

They entered Gringotts and went straight towards the teller.

"I would like to access my vault."

"Your name please.", the goblin teller said.

"Andromeda Black"

The goblin wrote something in a parchment and another goblin came.

"Follow me."

They quickly followed the goblin to the cart. They got into the cart and it instantly sped off. They quickly reached Andromeda's vault.

"Andy, why don't you go inside and check everything? If you have any heirlooms, take the one you like the most with you.", Bellatrix said.

"I don't have any heirlooms", she replied.

"I am sure you have now seen what you would lose when you get disowned.", Bellatrix said.

"Get to the point, Bella.", Andromeda replied gritting her teeth.

Bellatrix smirked in amusement on seeing the effect her comment was having on the younger girl. She could see that the pregnancy had adversely affected her sister's composure.

"The rule states that when you get disowned, your vault and its contents are confiscated by our family as the vault is ultimately family property. So, if you transfer all the money to a different vault only you can access, then you will not lose the money.", Bellatrix said.

"That is great."

"There are limitations of course. First is that you have to leave at least one knut in the original vault. Second is that you can only transfer the money into the new vault. The books, weapons and other heirlooms will remain in the original vault to be confiscated which is the reason I told you to take an heirloom in your person. The third is that you will only receive in your new vault the amount that is left after Gringotts has deducted its transfer fee.", Bella said.

"Well, that is better than losing everything.", she turned to the goblin and said, "I will like to leave a knut in the vault and transfer everything else into a new vault which only I and my children can access. You can detect the necessary fee before depositing into the new vault. Also, I would like everything I inherit or earn from now on to go to this new vault."

Bellatrix could almost see its eyes changing into galleons. If the goblin did not have to worry about its reputation, it would have been jumping around due to its excitement. If everything would have been confiscated, the goblins would have received nothing.

"What protection would you prefer for the new vault?", the goblin asked.

She said after thinking, "For now, the standard package will be enough but I might change it later."

"Of course."

After the financial matters had been dealt with, they left Gringotts.

"Bella, when are you going to come home?", Andromeda asked.

Bellatrix knew that by home she was talking about _No.12, Grimmauld Place_, their old family estate where they stayed with Uncle Orion and Aunt Walburga during the summers and not their manor in Kent. She had being staying in a rented flat with Amelia during the training as it was more convenient.

"My exams will be over in a few days. After that, I will come.", she replied.

"Well, good luck. Not that you will need it.", she said smirking.

"True.", Bella said returning the smirk.

Andromeda then apparated to Grimmauld Place while she apparated to her flat.

* * *

Bellatrix knocked on the door of Lord Black's office. The door opened to reveal an irritated and angry Orion Black.

"You do know that I don't like being interrupted from my work. So, the matter better be important.", he said sternly.

"The matter at hand is very important, sir. As it affects our family, I believe the whole family should hear it.", she replied calmly.

He pursed his lips in irritation and then called Kreacher.

"Get everyone to the lounge. An important matter has come up.", he said.

Kreacher popped off to tell everyone else. Soon, everyone assembled in the lounge.

"Bella, will you tell us now what was so important that you had to bring us all here?", Orion Black asked.

"Andromeda had gone missing and I had searched everywhere but when I went to her room I found this letter on her bed stand. She had written a letter to all of us.", Bellatrix said handing over the letter.

_Father, Mother, Uncle Orion, Aunt Walburga, Bella, Cissy, Siri, Reggie,_

_I apologize in advance for the difficulties that you would have to endure because of me. I have wanted to tell you all something for some time. I am in love with Ted Tonks and we had been secretly dating for two years. I had just recently realized that I was pregnant. I admit it wasn't one of my best decisions but what is done is done. I knew very well that none of you would have approved of him. So, I had to choose between my family and him. I would have surely chosen you all if it was not for my daughter. She needs both her parents. Ted has already proposed to me and we have decided to marry in a few months. I will be living with Ted and his parents in the muggle world from now on. I know that none of you can be happy for me but I am hoping that you will understand why I did it._

_Andy_

The letter was passed around between the adults until Walburga burned it. She quickly went off to the tapestry room and Bella knew that there will be a new hole or burnt mark on the family tree.

"My lord, she had caused us enough humiliation as it is. Soon, everyone will know about her running away. Can't we keep the pregnancy part a secret? Narcissa has done well in making an alliance with the House of Malfoy possible. We can't have Lord Malfoy having second thoughts, can we?"

Lord Black thought for a moment and said, "Bella, take the children with you and go. We adults have some decisions to make."

Even though he had dismissed her, Bella knew that he was thinking on it. She knew that many of her future plans require her remaining in her family's good books. Hopefully, she had managed to score some good points today. Bellatrix left the room with others. She was relieved that no one suspected her of having any previous knowledge in the matter. It would have brought up many unwanted complications. Just when they left the lounge she was bombarded with many questions.

"Alright everyone, one at a time. Cissy, you are the eldest. You can ask first.", Bellatrix said.

"What exactly was written in the letter?", Narcissa asked.

"She wrote that she had been dating the Tonks boy for two years and she became pregnant. She ran off with him to start a new life together.", Bellatrix replied.

"She will be disowned, won't she?", asked Regulus.

"Yes. Now, I have things to do. So, return to what you were doing.", Bellatrix replied.

* * *

Bellatrix was sitting in a shady muggle pub. She felt disgusted at even breathing the same air as these uncivilized beings but the circumstances made it necessary. To say that she was not comfortable sitting here would be an understatement. She knew very well she had a lot of money in her Gringotts vault now but with a war in horizon, she was not taking any risks. She had gotten the idea from something Lily Evans had told her in one of her letters. Lily had told her that the muggles use paper notes for their currency as gold was very expensive in the muggle world. She then got the idea of selling their galleons to muggles. She had heard that gold prices had started to rise. If her estimation of gold prices were correct, she would be making a good profit even after the goblins loot her in the name of conversion rates and deposit fees. She wondered why no one had thought of it before. She did not know whether there was any charm preventing the coins from being melted and remolded by muggle means. That is the reason she was dealing with a muggle smuggler under disguise in a fake name. She had even chosen a seat such a way that her face will be hidden in the shadows. If something goes wrong, she will just disappear as if she had never existed. She saw a man just come in and waved him to her table.

"Do you have the stuff?", he asked.

She kept the box with the three gold coins on the table. She used his distraction to discretely cast a mild compulsion charm to encourage him to be honest and forthcoming to her. She had also cast another charm to ensure that he would be unable to remember this meeting properly after it was over.

"What about you?", she replied.

He put a stack of paper notes on the table in front of her. A mild probe of mind told her that it was not only real money but also the exact amount she was supposed to get. She dug around in his mind a little more to see many ways to differentiate real currency from fake. He took the gold coins and left quickly. She let out a silent sigh after making sure that he was really gone. She would be lying if she had said that she did not feel fear at being all alone in an unknown muggle place surrounded by muggles of the shady sort. She counted the money she had earned that day. It was not difficult as Lily had told her that the value of a note was always printed in big letters on it. While she was counting the money, another idea occurred to her. Instead of depositing the money as galleons in her vault, she could deposit in a muggle bank. Then, she would not have to pay the exorbitant fees the goblins usually demand. Also, hidden resources are always a huge advantage, especially in the coming dangerous times. She then realized a flaw in her plan. She had no idea about the required formalities for setting up a new account in a muggle bank. She might require a completely new identity and many other documents. She seriously doubted that Lily Evans would be able to help her. She knew many things but she was only a twelve year old girl. She then remembered that she did have a little sister who owed her a favor. It looked like Tonks family would get a visit from her soon. She shook off her thoughts and decided to call it a day. She walked to a hidden alley some distance away and apparated home.

* * *

Narcissa Black was a girl who took immense pride in her beauty and her pureblood heritage. As she was the 'baby' of the family, she was pampered and spoilt not just by her parents but also by her elder sisters. She was the most popular girl of the school and was the envy of most of the female population of the school. She had everything a girl could ever want and she was happy. But, recently, her world was turned upside down. Her elder sister Andromeda got knocked up by the mudblood Tonks and ran off with him. She did not understand when and how it happened. One day, she was with them playing around and the next day Bella finds a letter she had written stating that she had eloped. She felt betrayed by the fact that she had turned her back on them all for an insignificant mudblood. She could not understand what was so special about him that Andromeda left everything else for him. She got up from her bed and left her room.

She stood in front of the door. She just had to knock to get what she wanted but she hesitated as she did not want to be seen as weak. She summoned all the courage in her fifteen year old body and knocked on the door. She felt like running away when she saw the door swinging open but she stood her ground.

"Cissy, what is the matter?", Bellatrix asked.

"Can I come in?", Narcissa asked.

"Sure"

Bella opened the door fully and moved to the side to let her in. She then closed the door and locked it. Bellatrix seemed to understand what she had wanted. She pulled open the blanket and allowed her to get in before getting in herself. Bella put an arm around her and pulled her in letting her rest her head on her chest. Narcissa felt like a small child again. She soon felt tears form at her eyes much to her chagrin. The more she tried to hold it in the more the tears came out. Bella pat her back silently letting her know that it was alright to let it out. Her sisters had been her pillars. She had always believed that she could always rely on them to stand beside her. She now realized how foolish she had been to believe it. She suddenly felt vulnerable and exposed.

"Bella, will you leave me too like Andromeda did?", she asked.

She inwardly cringed when she realized that she sounded small and weak. If her sister had noticed it, she chose not to acknowledge it, a blessing she was thankful for. There was a pause as Bellatrix formulated the best way to answer the question.

"The moment I first got a look at that angelic face of yours, I promised myself that I would protect you from all the dangers. I intend to keep that word whether I am standing next to you or I am so far away that you cannot detect my presence.", Bellatrix replied.

She had noticed that her sister had ignored her question completely but chose not to make an issue out of it. She decided to revel in the comfort of Bella's presence as long as it lasted. She felt all her troubles evaporating away when Bella kissed her head and she fell asleep soon after.

* * *

Bellatrix started flying the moment she got outside the wards. Unless time was of essence, she preferred to fly instead of apparating. Flying in the morning was quite a thrilling experience. The feeling of wind blowing against her had a special calming effect on her and the view of London from the sky was great. She could easily understand why some people loved flying and quidditch. She landed in front of Gringotts and walked straight up to the teller.

"I would like to speak with my account manager.", Bellatrix said firmly.

"Your name?", goblin teller asked without looking up.

"Bellatrix Black", she replied.

"He will be here with you shortly."

Soon, a goblin came and she followed him to one of the conference rooms. He gave her all the documents pertaining to her account. She went through all of them.

"I am happy to see that good decisions on your part have resulted in profits for me. I would like to make a slight change in the investment plan. I would like to invest in many areas in the muggle world. I want one-fifth of the money in the vault invested in gold and another one-fifth invested in recent muggle technologies.", Bellatrix said.

The goblin seemed surprised. She knew that not many purebloods took interest in investing their money properly. Even those who take interest in it usually prefer to live in poverty rather than associate with anything even remotely muggle. So, she could understand the goblin's surprise.

"I will do that if you are sure."

"Yes, I am sure.", she replied.

"Is there anything else you would like to change?", the goblin asked.

"No. Now, I would like to visit my vault.", she said.

"Escorting you to your vault is beneath my position. I will have someone escort you there."

Soon, another goblin came to escort her. She exchanged the traditional pleasantries with her account manager and followed the other goblin. She got into a cart and quickly reached her vault. She decided to take more money this time. She took a handful of galleons and put them in her moleskin pouch. She then returned in the same cart and left Gringotts to begin another eventful day.

* * *

I am happy to see so many title suggestions. The majority was Bella's Redemption which I would have continued using if this title hadn't jumped at me suddenly. Even though I said that Bella will only make changes after Halloween, the events before wouldn't be exact canon. Bella will make changes if she is sure that it won't affect the overall result of the war.

Someone asked me whether Bella's advice to Lily will change what will happen at that Halloween. The answer is no. The advice Bella gave her was the one Lily had already learned on her own in the original timeline. In canon, Lily didn't trust Pettigrew and so did a blood ritual to protect Harry from the Killing Curse as a backup. She will do the same thing this time but it will be because of Bella's advice.

Andromeda eloped about a month after the money transfer had taken place.

For those wondering about the significance of the scene with Narcissa, it was just to show that Bella has a soft side and can be caring if she wants to be. There is no incest or siscest or anything similar.

Please R&R. The more no. of reviews the happier I am.


	5. The Birth And The Engagement

**Disclaimer :**I do not own Harry Potter but I wish I owned Bellatrix Black.

* * *

' ' – Thoughts

" " – Speaking in English

" " – _Speaking in Parseltongue_

* * *

**Summary: **

_Formerly Bella's Redemption. A series of events result in Bellatrix being disgraced in the Death Eater circle. When an accidental activation of an heirloom results in passing along of her memories to her younger self, she decides that it is a good opportunity to settle some old scores and refrain from making certain mistakes. It is mainly Bellatrix but Harry Potter comes in later chapters._

**The Rise of Bellatrix Black**

**5: The Birth and the Engagement**

* * *

sh8ad8ow : Thank you.

whitetigerwolf : Yes, she will. But, I won't say anymore as it can break the suspense.

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LordNemesis : Thank you for the complement. Just wait and watch.

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rest : Thank you.**  
**

* * *

**Date: 7 February 1974**

**Location: A muggle hospital in Bristol**

* * *

It was a busy night at the hospital and both the patients and the staff were running around to get everything done. So, no one noticed a woman seemingly appearing out of nowhere. She seemed to be a little squeamish as if she was unused to the type of clothes she was wearing. With an aristocratic face, black wavy hair falling in ringlets up to the middle of her back and cold violet eyes completely devoid of emotion, she was the epitome of beauty and perfection. In spite of having an appearance that stood out among the general populace, no one else so much as glanced at her.

Bellatrix finally spotted the person the muggles usually called receptionist behind a counter and stood in front of the counter. The receptionist was a young girl who looked to be in her early twenties. Bellatrix snapped her fingers wandlessly removing the notice-me-not charm that she had put on herself.

"Excuse me, I would like to see Andromeda Tonks.", Bellatrix said.

The girl looked at her startled. She was looking at her as if she had grown two heads making her wonder what she had done wrong. She figured that the girl might not have been used to being addressed formally. She wondered how the muggles interacted with each other. The girl quickly shook off her shock and rummaged through some register book before spotting the name.

"Andromeda Tonks is in the maternity ward on the second floor."

Bellatrix quickly climbed the steps after thanking her and reached the maternity ward. She saw the Tonks family standing around her sister apparently trying to console her.

"You came at the right time. She was going to be shifted to the labor room.", Ted Tonks said.

She ignored him and went straight to Andromeda who had a smile on her face when she saw her.

"How are you holding up, sister?", Bellatrix asked.

"I am doing alright, Bella. How is Narcissa?", she asked.

"She is still alive.", she replied.

Andromeda suddenly gritted her teeth in pain. It looked like the little girl was very eager to get out. Bella held her sister's face in her hands and kissed her forehead.

"It will be alright. It takes more than a childbirth to take down a Black.", she whispered in her ear.

Suddenly, two nurses came and took off with her in what looked like an elongated trolley to the labor room. She did not know what was happening inside as the window was covered by green curtains from the inside. She wondered whether the muggles really thought that the lack of lighting helped in the childbirth.

"How did you bring her up to the second floor? It must have been difficult considering her condition.", she asked the father-to-be.

"It wasn't an easy task. We got her here from home in a car. A car-"

"I know what a car is. Continue."

"After we reached the hospital, we had her sit in a wheel chair and we took an elevator to reach the second floor.", Ted said.

He looked at her ready to explain more but was shocked to see that she understood the muggle terms very well. He remembered very well how difficult it was to make Andromeda understand the muggle terms.

"How is it in magical world?", a man she assumed to be Ted's father asked.

Bellatrix knew that this was a good opportunity to get her brother-in-law and his muggle parents on her side. She thought for a moment to formulate the right words.

"St. Mungo's doesn't have a maternity section or labor room because it is not necessary. In our world, a new child is an important event for the family. So, it is ensured that every milestone happens at home. Every pureblood family, who can afford it, has a family healer to care of the medical issues of the family including pregnancy. We seek assistance from the St. Mungo's healers only after the family healer decides that it is beyond his capability and recommends it. Others visit St. Mungo's for their monthly appointment but give birth at their home. As our population is less, this system works perfectly for us.", she replied.

"You should go for politics. Andy wouldn't have been able to explain things half as well as you do.", Ted said causing her to raise her eyebrow.

She had never considered herself as a social person. So, she was surprised to get that complement. As she had no idea how to respond to that she quickly changed the subject.

"What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you going to support your wife by letting her crush your hand into pulp? I thought that it was the universal symbol of a husband's love for his wife.", she drawled while casually leaning against the wall.

"That was too sadistic, even for you, Bellatrix.", he replied making her smirk at him.

"When is it going to be over?", Bellatrix asked tilting her head towards the room.

"First childbirth takes a minimum of 12 hours while I believe the later ones only require 3 or 4 hours. I am not sure about the latter as I had only one child.", Ted's mother-Olivia said.

"So, I wouldn't miss anything if I leave now and come after few hours, would I?", she asked.

"Other than some good opportunities to irritate my son, you wouldn't be missing anything.", she replied.

Bellatrix could only look at her in shock as she said it with a straight face.

'Who knew muggles had a sense of humor?'

She left shaking her head to clear her thoughts. A muggle woman had said a joke and she had found it funny. That was wrong on many levels. Life was so much easier when the only things she had to do was to cast a Cruciatus curse on some idiot and talk about her being the most loyal to the dark lord.

* * *

**Date: 8 February 1974**

**Location: A muggle hospital in Bristol**

* * *

Bellatrix had returned an hour ago but still it was not over. The only reason she was waiting here was because she wanted to be there for her sister during this crucial moment. Seeing the father-to-be walking to and fro and muttering things under his breath was not helping her overall irritation.

"I know that many muggle women were so weak that they died during the childbirth. But Andromeda is not only a witch but also a Black. I am sure she will come out of this alive.", she drawled.

Ted gritted his teeth and was about to say something when the door opened and a doctor came out.

He removed the green cloth from his mouth and said, "It is a girl. You can see them now."

The four walked in to the room where Andromeda lay on a bed, exhausted yet smiling, holding a little pink bundle. Ted walked over and Andromeda handed him their daughter.

The baby was bald except for a tuft of dull brown hair on her head. Her eyes were wide open, and they were a lighter shade of chocolate brown. He grinned as he held the child.

"She looks just like you," he said to Andromeda, then smiled down at his daughter.

"Hi there, little one", he whispered, "I'm your daddy, and that's mummy over there."

The child reached up and grabbed his finger, gurgling.

"Yeah, you recognize me don't you? And over there is Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Bellatrix."

The baby gurgled again.

"Yup. You have a very big family."

"I hate to interrupt this moment but the child needs a name. Did you think of any?", Bellatrix asked.

"We had decided to name her after she was born. Andy, what should we name her?", Ted asked.

Andromeda looked at the little one that she had helped create and said, "Nymphadora. I like that name."

"Andy, don't you think we should wait for her to misbehave before punishing her?", Bellatrix drawled.

Everyone else in the room started laughing on hearing that. Andromeda gave her sister a piercing glare causing her to smirk. She switched her glare to others when she saw them laughing. She could not help but feel betrayed to see her husband and her in laws take her sister's side when she was sure that they did not even like each other.

"What is wrong with the name? After all, the name means the gift of the nymphs.", she said becoming more defensive than she had intended.

All playfulness and amusement left her sister's face and she became serious.

"Andy, don't you think that name is a little too long for a first name? If you like the name so much, we can always have that as her second name.", Bella said.

"Do you have a better suggestion for her first name?", Andy asked.

"I do in fact.", she replied.

"Would you care to tell us what it is?", Andromeda said in a mocking tone.

"Isla. Isla Nymphadora Ted Tonks. It has some significance as you know very well.", Bellatrix replied causing everyone to stare at her open mouthed.

None of them had thought that she would have a name ready. Andromeda was the one who was most shocked. She pursed her lips in frustration. As much as her pride refused to admit it, it was a much better name than the one she had chosen. Isla Black was an ancestor of theirs who was disowned for marrying a muggle named Bob Hitchens. Due to that reason, it was fitting for her daughter as the name complements both sides of her heritage. But, she was not going to tell all that to her sister. Bella's head was already big enough and did not require any encouragement. She wondered whether Bella was more eager to be an Aunt than she had initially let on. There was no way she could have come up with such a good name in a moment. She looked at her husband and her parents in law for some suggestion.

"It is ultimately your choice, Andromeda. After all, you gave birth to her. You know that we will support your decision whether we like it or not.", Ted's father said.

Even though they kept a neutral face, their eyes told her that they liked Bella's suggestion better. So, she resigned herself to her fate.

"Bella, you are my sister. That is the only reason you are getting away with this.", Andromeda said though the slight tilt of her lips cleared away any doubts of the seriousness of her statement.

A smug smirk came up on Bella's face on hearing that.

"Considering that you were generous enough to suggest a good name for her, I am sure you would want to take her in your arms.", Ted said with a smile.

Andromeda saw Bellatrix's eyes widen in shock. She was sure that she had seen a flicker of fear in those violet orbs.

"Er … you are not serious, are you? I am not exactly a mother material.", Bella replied hesitantly.

"You wouldn't know that until you try, would you?", he replied.

Before Bellatrix could object further, Ted pushed the baby into her hands. Even though she had initially felt uncomfortable, she realized that the baby fit in perfectly as if she was meant to be in her arms. The baby gurgled in her arms and pinched her nose with her tiny hand. Bellatrix felt tears prick her eyes as the child's antics reminded her of her inability to have a child. She could not help but feel jealous of her sister who got a wonderful daughter. She blinked the tears away and kissed her forehead.

She touched her forehead to that of the baby's and whispered in her ear, "Little one, I want you to remember that from now onwards you have, not one, but two mothers to take care of you."

She took a deep breath schooling her features into an impeccable mask and returned Isla back to Ted.

"I have a lot of work to do. See you all soon.", she said.

She waved away their farewells and left.

* * *

**Date: July 4 1975**

**Location: Potter Manor, Westminster**

* * *

"I told you that I will win, Prongs. Now, you owe me 5 galleons.", Sirius said extending his hand with a smug smirk on his face.

"Today is the first time you won, Padfoot. So, there is no need to gloat too much.", James Potter replied while reluctantly parting with the money.

"Hey! What about-"

"That is enough, boys. When are you both going to grow up?", Elizabeth Potter nee Moon asked.

James and Sirius looked at each other before looking back at her and simultaneously said, "Never"

She rolled her eyes at the immature behavior displayed by her boys. Even though Sirius was not her son, they had always considered him as a part of their family, or in Sirius' words, an honorary Potter. He had always spent the summer vacations with them as he had issues with his family. Looking at them, anyone would mistake them for twins.

"Sirius, someone had sent you a letter.", she said showing him an enveloped letter.

"Who is it, mum? Is it a girl?", James asked with a teasing undertone.

"It is a girl, alright.", she said calmly.

She saw that both of them were quite eager to know who it was and Sirius looked almost desperate.

'This should be fun. '

"It is from a girl named Bellatrix Black.", she said smirking.

Both of them laughed at the look of horror on Sirius' face. To say that Sirius was shocked would be an understatement. He could not understand why she suddenly wanted to talk to him when she had not bothered with him after her show of goodwill in his first year. He was as shocked as anyone else in the family when she had decided to join the Auror Corps as she had always been vocal about her contempt for them. He shook off his thoughts and decided to see what she had to convey.

_Sirius_

_I have heard an interesting bit of news recently. Your mother mentioned something about you disgracing the family by running away from your home. I would like to hear your side of the story before I jump to any conclusions. I am assuming that you are at Potter Manor. When should we meet? _

_Bellatrix_

Sirius noted that the letter was short and precise. The usage of his name rather than his nickname showed him that she was not pleased with what she had heard. He also noted that she did not ask his opinion for the meeting place and implied in her own way that she wanted to meet him in the place he was staying now. A few years ago, he would have been sure that she was planning to berate him about disobeying his mother and talk to him about how he was a disgrace to the family but her recent behavior was confusing. He now understood why people said that a person with unknown allegiances was more dangerous than a known enemy.

"Is everything alright?", Elizabeth asked uncertainly.

Sirius was startled upon hearing her voice making him realize that he had been lost in his thoughts for some time. He saw that she was curious but she was worried that it was some family matter that she had no business to pry in. He did not know exactly how much to tell her. They did not know the full extent of the events and he would prefer to keep it that way.

"She wants to meet me. She was asking for a proper time to visit here.", he replied.

"Tell her to come on day after tomorrow for lunch. It is a Sunday after all. It has been so long since I have seen the girl. It would be nice to see her again.", she replied.

* * *

**Date: 6 July 1975**

**Location: Potter Manor, Westminster**

* * *

Bellatrix stepped out of the fire to be greeted by a group of four. The oldest among them was a tall man who was wearing round glasses and had his black hair tied into a ponytail to signify his Lordship. Next to him stood a woman who was slightly above average in height and had her dirty blonde hair pinned in an elegant updo. Next to her was a boy who looked like the healthier version of Harry Potter or how she remembered him to be and he was standing with her cousin Sirius.

She went up to Lord Potter and said after extending her hand, "Greetings, Lord Potter. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

He kissed the back of her hand and said, "I believe that the pleasure is mine, milady."

She then turned to the woman and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Potter"

"Please call me Elizabeth.", Elizabeth Potter said.

"I will if you call me Bellatrix.", Bellatrix replied.

They shook hands. She welcomed her inside after the boys gave her the formal greeting. They went to the dining hall and sat down.

"Mipsy, bring the lunch."

Suddenly, many varieties of dishes appeared on the table. As per the customs, she let the Lord of the house begin before she started eating.

"So, tell me, Bellatrix. Can I call you Bellatrix?", Lord Potter asked.

"Please. I'd rather not be formal in an informal setting.", she replied.

"Call me Thomas then.", he replied.

"If you insist.", she replied.

She knew that she had to be careful in her maneuverings as the Potters played an important role in her plans.

"I have heard that you are in Auror training. How is it going?", Thomas asked.

"Actually, I had already completed Auror training. I have been a fully qualified Auror for a year now.", Bella replied.

"I thought you needed three years of training to be a fully qualified Auror.", James asked.

"Three years is the standard time. If you are good enough, you can complete the course in two years.", she said letting a little smugness show in her voice.

James Potter looked like he just ate something sour. She knew that he was reluctantly impressed.

"Sirius, now I know where you got your big headedness from.", James said smirking at him.

Bellatrix was shocked even if she did not show it. That was an almost Slytherin-worthy comment. He insulted both of them in a single sentence.

"That statement reminds me of an old Muggle saying. I don't exactly remember what it was. I know that it had a kettle and a pot in it.", she replied with a smug smirk on her face.

James looked confused initially. When he guessed the meaning, he glared at her causing everyone else to laugh.

"What did your parents feel about your decision?", Thomas Potter asked after he finished laughing.

"My mother was initially against it as she had felt that it was not proper for a lady of my station but my father managed to convince her.", Bella replied.

"I understand. Sometimes, we ladies would have to work hard to get what we want", Elizabeth Potter said.

She had a smile on her face as she said it which Bella returned. They continued their lunch making small talk about various subjects.

After lunch, she had Sirius show her around the house. She noted that the manor, while big, was smaller than their old family estate. She also noticed that the manor was built to give a homely feeling to its occupants rather than to show off their wealth like the Blacks or intimidate people like the Malfoys. After seeing everything, they settled down in the garden.

"Now, I will get to the topic I came here to discuss. Why are you here instead of your home?", Bellatrix asked.

She had such an authoritative gaze that he squirmed in spite of trying not to. He suddenly felt like a child who was caught misbehaving and he hated it.

"Because I ran away.", Sirius said just to spite her.

"Congratulations for stating the obvious, Sirius. Now, tell me why did you run away? You do know that it brings bad name to the family, don't you?", Bellatrix asked.

She mentioned the part about the 'bad name' because she knew that it would get him riled up. Sirius had a habit of acting first and thinking later whenever he was angry. She hoped that he would part with information more easily in that mood. As she expected, he became angry.

"Bad name to the family? Is that the only thing you ever care about? I don't care how much humiliation the family has to suffer, I will not join the Dark Lord.", he said panting from the exertions.

"Is that all? Then you could have just told your parents. There was no need to-"

"You don't understand, do you? My mother wanted me to join the dark lord and I told her that I did not want anything to do with him. Do you know what she did then? She cast Cruciatus curse on me. She would have continued if Regulus had not distracted her. I quickly packed everything and flooed to the Potter Manor. I have been here ever since.", he said apparently relieved that he had finally managed to express himself.

Seeing his cousin's shocked face, he realized that he had said too much. Ever since his father's death, his mother had been growing crazier as the days went by. Her initial insistence on him joining the dark lord had gradually changed to demands. Even though it was the first time she had punished him in that way, he knew that if he had continued to stick around, his punishments would have increased in intensity. He had initially felt guilty for abandoning his brother to his mother's mercy but then he remembered that Regulus, unlike him, was well liked by his mother. So, Regulus would not have to suffer like he did.

"Earth to Sirius.", Bellatrix shouted startling him out of his thoughts.

"A sickle for your thoughts, cousin dearest.", she said.

She was smirking at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. He groaned as he realized that she had the upper hand now. He had never told anyone else about what had happened in his home, not even his best friends. He knew that they will pity him. He did not want their pity.

"You purposefully made me angry, didn't you?", Sirius asked.

"Yes, cousin.", Bellatrix replied not bothering to claim innocence.

"It is a pity you were not my age. You would have made a good Marauder. It was a good prank.", Sirius said reluctantly.

She gave him a smug smirk which made him want to bash his skull on the wall. What he would not give for a chance to wipe that stupid smirk off her face.

"How could you be sure that I was not lying?", Sirius asked.

"Because your Occlumency shields are pathetic. Do you ever practice?", Bellatrix snapped scaring Sirius who was shocked by the sudden change in her mood.

"Alright.", he replied warily.

Sirius suddenly realized what she meant.

"You used Legilimency on me?", he asked.

She smiled, an eerie smile that scared him more than her temper.

"So, you have worked it out. Yes, I took a peek into your mind and I was quite surprised to meet absolutely no resistance. I will owl you many books on Occlumency which I would expect you to learn. I will come here once in a while to teach you and I want to see you prepared.", Bellatrix said.

"Yes, Professor Bellatrix.", Sirius replied.

"Don't mock me, Sirius. I could easily slip up in front of the Potters.", she replied causing him to go pale.

"Now, I want to know one thing. Are you ever going to change your mind and join the dark lord?", Bellatrix asked.

"No. Why?", came Sirius' reply.

"I am planning on taking over the world myself and I need useful minions for that. If you are not going to join the dark lord, I can offer you the privilege of joining me.", Bellatrix replied.

As she had said it with a straight face, Sirius did not know whether she was serious or joking. So, he decided to humor her.

"What work would you have for me if I agree to join you?", Sirius asked.

"Right now, I have a project for you. I am sure you would know that in every generation of Blacks, at least one person gets disowned. Your task is to trace those missing lines and to establish contact with the living descendants of that line. For example, I have already traced Marius' line to somewhere in Australia. I want you to find out everything about that line and get in contact with the living descendants. I have also traced Isla Black's line to her great-great-grandson Rob Hitchens in Paris. As far as I know, there has been no magical child in that line after Isla Black. I have already owled him once and got a favorable response. I feel that the letters will have more importance if it is from the heir of the family. I am leaving Phineas' and earlier lines to you.", Bellatrix said.

"So, it was not a joke.", Sirius said to confirm to himself.

"Of course not.", she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sirius looked at her unsure of how to respond. He had no idea why she had suddenly become interested in this project.

"We are in the middle of a war. We need every advantage we can get. If the war takes a turn for the worse, we can use their house as safe houses. Most of our enemies would not search for us beyond our known hiding places. Disowned family members can be quite useful at times. I hope I would not have to specifically tell you that discretion is very essential for this matter.", Bellatrix answered his thoughts.

"I was about to mention that I knew the living descendants of another line but I can understand that Weasleys will not serve this process.", he replied.

Bella made a constipated face and said, "I really did not want to remember that I am related to them. They are a disgrace to the pureblood society."

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?", Sirius asked.

"I visited Uncle Alphard recently. He is bedridden now. He believes that he doesn't have much time left in this world. He had taken a muggleborn orphan girl under his wing to return a favor to her late parents. She is of your age. She doesn't really have anyone other than him. So, naturally, he is worried about her. He had decided to give most of his wealth and properties to her after his death. But he fears, rightly so, that your mother might challenge her to it.", Bellatrix said.

Sirius understood the unspoken statement. An orphan girl was no match for the power and influence of the Black family. Knowing how ruthless his mother tended to be, he knew that the girl would be left on the streets.

"Is there anything I can do?", Sirius asked.

He knew that she would not have told him if something was not expected of him. The question was what price he would have to pay to help the poor girl. Bellatrix seemed to be taking her time as if she was choosing the right words to say.

"I was hoping that you will get engaged to the girl-"

"WAIT! You are already deciding my marriage without asking me?", Sirius asked.

"Siri, no one is deciding anything for you. The choice is yours. Think about it, Sirius. The only way your mother will refrain from challenging her is if her doing so will cause some information to become public which will bring bad name to her or to the family. Anyway, it is just an engagement. You can break it any time you want. It is a good chance to get back at your mother, Sirius. Don't waste it.", Bellatrix said.

"You can be very persuasive when you want to be, you know. What are you getting from the deal anyway?", he asked.

"I love plotting schemes.", she replied.

He raised an eyebrow at her. He did not believe her. Even if he would not go as much as to call her cruel or evil, he knew that she was a selfish and self-serving person. He knew that Bellatrix would not lower herself to helping a muggleborn unless she was gaining something substantial but he knew that pushing her for information would not get him anywhere.

"Bella, you are expecting me to get engaged to a girl about whom I know nothing about. I don't even know her name.", he said.

"I know. That is the reason I am taking you to meet her. Today, you both will be having a heart to heart talk.", she said shrugging her shoulders in a nonchalant way.

To say that Sirius was shocked would be an understatement. Bellatrix had given a whole new meaning to being unpredictable.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you already told Uncle Alphard that I agreed to the engagement.", he said.

Bellatrix remained conspicuously silent.

"You did tell him that I agreed, didn't you?", Sirius asked.

She looked sheepish for the first time that day.

"I might have mentioned that you would do anything to get back at your mother. I might also have mentioned you would jump at any chance to show everyone your disdain towards blood purity.", she replied.

Seeing his sullen face, she quickly jumped forward to comfort him.

"Sirius, it is not the end of the world. You are going to meet her today anyway. I am sure you will like her. She is a nice girl."

If it was anyone else who had told him that, he would have been comforted. He had learned from personal experience to be wary of anything that Bella describes as nice. He decided to see for himself before deciding anything.

"Alright. We will meet her today. I am warning you that I will not agree if I do not like her.", Sirius said.

"Agreed. Now, let's go and inform the Potters that we are going out.", Bellatrix said.

They went back inside.

"Elizabeth, we are going out. We will return by dusk.", Sirius said.

"You better not be late if you know what is good for you.", Elizabeth replied.

"I, Bellatrix Black, on behalf of the Noble and the Most Ancient House of Black, would like to thank the Ancient House of Potter for taking care of one of our own."

Elizabeth Potter looked at her in shock for a moment.

She then composed herself and replied with a smile, "I, Elizabeth Potter, on behalf of the Ancient House of Potter, accept the gratitude."

They then shook hands leaving Sirius shocked. Every time he had thought that nothing could surprise him anymore, something like this would always come out. By openly thanking Elizabeth in the name of the family, Bellatrix had brought the house of Black a step away from a formal alliance with the house of Potter. The one who succeeds his mother as the head of the House will have a choice between giving the house of Potter something to clear the debt or to formally declare an alliance with them. He once again wondered about her motives behind taking such a huge step. He was broken out of his thoughts by her pulling him by his arm.

"What are you waiting for? Let's leave.", Bellatrix said.

He followed her out. When they passed the wards, she stopped.

"Have you apparated before?", she asked.

"No but I have done Side-Along-Apparition. I am not old enough to learn to apparate on my own.", he said.

"I didn't know that you usually wait until the legal age to learn something.", she said raising an eyebrow.

He tried his best to look innocent but he somehow knew that she could see through that. He hoped she did not know about his Animagus training.

"Whatever you are doing, be careful. I don't want my cousin to end up as a half human half dog hybrid even if there is not much of a difference in terms of intelligence and looks.", she said.

"How did you know about that? You didn't pluck it out of my mind, did you?", he asked shocked.

She gave him a pitying smile as if she had decided that he was too hopeless.

"Sirius, when someone starts their Animagus training, some of their features change permanently. If you look at yourself properly, you will see that your facial structure has altered to resemble a dog's. I had started my training after I got into the Auror training program and completed it by the beginning of the second year. Can you guess my form?"

Sirius now understood how she knew about their training. He looked at her properly and noticed that her nose looked slightly more elongated and sharper.

"It is a bird. I don't know which one.", he replied.

She gave him a smile and then disappeared. In her place was an eagle. It flew around for some time and then landed on his shoulder. He cringed when its sharp talons pierced the skin of his shoulder. It then tilted its head in contemplation and then flew off from his shoulder. It then transformed back in front of his eyes.

She then tilted her head upwards as if to ask how it was. He was too speechless to say anything.

"I hope this will remain between us. I haven't registered yet.", she said to which he nodded.

She then took hold of his forearm. He saw the surroundings blurring and then it changed to that of a medium sized house.

"Wait! Did we just apparate?", Sirius asked surprised.

"Yes, cousin dearest.", she said slowly as if she was talking to a very slow child.

"But, I didn't feel anything.", he said.

"Sirius, I know that you were used to going with ordinary witches and wizards and would know that it is not comfortable. But, I am one of the most powerful witches ever. I can apparate smoothly.", she said.

Sirius rolled his eyes at her blatant flattery and said, "Weren't we going in?"

"Yes. Her name is Rose Taten and she was homeschooled. You can learn the rest when you talk to her. Follow me.", she said.

He followed her to the door. She knocked on it and they heard incoming footsteps. The door was opened by a girl who looked to be in her teens holding a small girl who looked about a year old. The older girl was of average height, had copper red hair and light brown eyes while the little girl had light brown hair and dark brown eyes. His eyes automatically moved over her hour glass figure and noted that she had good proportioned assets. He briefly wondered how she would be in bed but was startled out of his thoughts by the voice of the little child.

"An' 'ella", she said extending her hands towards Bellatrix.

Bellatrix quickly took her from the other girl's arms.

"Hello little one! Did you miss your Aunt Bella?", she cooed to the child.

Sirius quickly turned away not wanting to see it. There were only so much of strange sights he could see without going mad.

"Why don't you two talk things over? I will take her", Bellatrix said before going off to another room.

He stood outside awkwardly not knowing what to say or do.

"You must be Sirius. I am Rose Taten. Please come in and take a seat.", she said inviting him in.

After taking a seat, she went inside and returned with a cup of tea.

"You are more good looking than I expected.", she said.

She blushed when she realized that she had said it aloud.

"You are no less yourself, Lady Rose.", he said causing her blush to deepen.

She then composed herself and said, "So, did Bella drop the bomb on you?"

"What?"

"I am sorry. It is a muggle expression. It means 'giving an extremely shocking piece of information'.", Rose said smiling.

"If you are talking about the engagement, yes. She told me about it today.", Sirius replied.

"Typical Bella", was her reply.

It was then that he noticed that she had called Bellatrix 'Bella'. He knew that no one outside her strict circle of family and friends were allowed to call her that. It made him wonder how well they knew each other.

"If you don't mind me asking, how well do you know Bella? She doesn't allow many people to call her that.", he asked.

"Three years. She had been visiting us once in a while since she entered the Auror training program. She used to take over as my tutor whenever she had the time. We had decided that I will join Hogwarts this year. She told me that I was good enough to pass OWLs and sit in the sixth year but she felt that it will be easier for me if I join in your year. So, how is Hogwarts?"

He then started telling her everything from the time of Sorting, making new friends, playing pranks to the end of fourth year. She was good listener who interjected with appropriate questions at appropriate moments and gave her own comments. They were so engrossed in their talk that they did not notice the time until they were interrupted by Bellatrix.

"As much as I hate to interrupt you two love birds, it is getting late and Sirius has to return home.", she said smirking.

Her smirk widened when she noticed that neither of them denied it. She noted that Sirius seemed quite reluctant to leave.

"Sirius, If you want to continue your talks, you can owl her. I saw that you were so engrossed in your talks that you did not even have the time to play with Isla.", she said.

"Who is Isla?", Sirius asked.

Bellatrix looked shocked at first but then it turned to a more sheepish look.

"I had brought you here intending to introduce you to your cousin. Isla is the name of Andromeda's little girl. She is asleep now. So, it looks like you will be coming here again.", she replied.

Even though she looked sheepish, Sirius had a feeling that her 'forgetting' to introduce Isla to him was a part of her plan. He shook off his thoughts and followed Bellatrix outside. He had enough surprises for the day. He decided to think about today's events later. She apparated him back to the outskirts of the Potter Manor where they went their separate ways.

* * *

**Date: 13 September 1975**

**Location: Little Hangleton, East Sussex**

* * *

Bellatrix looked around to make sure that no one had seen her appear. She scanned the place for suspicious or hostile elements and found none. She mused that everything around Little Hangleton screamed small town. In her previous life, she had extracted every bit of information she could from Pettigrew. Surprisingly, the cowardly rat turned out to be a well of information. She had found out from him that the Resurrection Ritual was done in the graveyard of Riddle Manor. The ritual required the use of his father's bone. The remains of a muggle called Tom Riddle were used for it from which she could guess that this Tom Riddle was his father. Even if the dark lord did tell Harry Potter just that, she had rather not rely on his words as long as she had another choice. Her time as an Auror had taught her the importance of conducting a proper investigation, collecting strong evidence and using logical analysis to uncover the complete truth. She then searched every newspaper magical and muggle and found out something in the newspapers of 1944. It had stated that the entire Riddle family had died of a mysterious cause and that their gardener Franklin was arrested on suspicion. The gardener was later released as no evidence had been found against him. It was obvious that the cause of their death was the Killer Curse. The Daily Prophet further reported that their neighbor Morfin Gaunt had confessed to the crime and had been put in Azkaban. As the Gaunts were the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin, that piece of information further cemented the importance of the small town to Lord Voldemort. She carefully observed the women walking around and the dress they wore. She then noted a dress that she was sure would comfortably fit her and transfigured her robes to that. The majority of the magical people wore dresses that were around hundred years ago and walked around believing that they are mingling successfully with the muggles while they were only making a fool out of themselves. None of them had realized that they just had to look at the clothes of the muggles walking around them and transfigure their robes accordingly. With magic readily available to correct everything with a flick of a wand, people had forgotten the importance of simple observation.

She entered the pub and went straight to the counter. The barmen always tend to be mine of information if you know how to extract information from them. The people of the town like to get drunk and babble all their problems to them. The pubs are the place where the locals enjoy drinks while exchanging local gossips. She had specifically chosen to come here at Saturday evening as it was the busiest time of the week.

"One martini please", she said putting some notes on the counter.

A good barman does not outwardly show any reaction when he gets some extra money. So, as she had expected, he never acknowledged the twenty pounds extra she gave him even if she knew that he had noticed it. He quickly whipped up the martini and gave her. She once again checked her surroundings properly and then took a sip.

"What do you know about the Riddles?", she asked.

"I don't know much as I started working here after their time-"

He then saw a twenty pound note on the counter and changed his tune.

"I had heard a lot about them of course. I had heard that they were an arrogant good for nothing lot. The father was bad enough but the son was much worse. Apparently, a month before his wedding, he ran away with some tramp girl leaving his poor fiancée heartbroken. He returned about a year later telling a story of being bewitched or some other nonsense but none of us believed him.", he said.

"What can you tell me about the tramp girl?", she asked.

He was surprised by her interest in the tramp but he 'forgot' about it after getting another twenty pounds.

He leaned forwards and said in a quiet voice, "From what I know, her family lived in a small hut in the land owned by the Riddles. They were all crazy. Even their family name was weird, Gant or Gaunt or something like that. They were rude to everyone else and kept making hissing sounds at everyone and between themselves."

"Now, tell me what you know about the death of Riddles.", she said.

Another exchange of a twenty pound note later he told everything he knew about the Riddles' death. Most of it was the same thing she had read in the newspapers but she had learned from him the gardener's comment which was left out of the newspapers. Apparently, he had seen a black haired boy who looked to be in his mid teens in the area around the time the deaths had happened. Everyone else had thought that he was lying as no one in the town knew of the boy who fit that description. After analyzing everything she had learned, she could make an educated that the teenage boy was the dark lord.

She left two twenty pound notes on the table and said, "I did not come here. You did not see me. We never talked."

He nodded to show that he understood. Any other wizard or witch would have simply Obliviated him but she knew the importance of him remembering. If the near impossible scenario happened where the dark lord had learned about someone asking around about his family, any magical signature she left would lead him to her. He would be able to know if someone had been Obliviated and has enough skill to extract information from him easily. Due to the low lighting and her own make up, the barman would not be able to remember the accurate details of her appearance. Due to the style of investigation she had chosen, the dark lord would be lead to believe that it was a muggle.

She left the pub and walked in the direction of the Riddle Manor. She stopped when she was a little distance away from it.

'Trafero vici veneficus' she thought tapping her face with her wand.

Soon, the surroundings changed to show a combination of box shaped structures. She was surprised to see no signs of any wards. She walked forward slowly keeping her senses alert for any sign of a hostile attack. She soon found the wards and was surprised by what she had found. She removed the magical sight and was more surprised. If she did not know the things she did, she would have been shocked to see one of the most complex and powerful ward structures placed around a hovel while the huge manor nearby was unguarded. She wondered why someone as cunning and intelligent as the dark lord would do something that stupid. It was as obvious as placing a board in front of the house and writing on it 'Something extremely precious is hidden here. Please try to steal it'. She decided to return home for now and return when she knows what exactly was hidden there.

* * *

I know that this is a very long chapter but considering that I had made you wait for a long time, it is only right that I write a long chapter.

Andromeda and Bellatrix care for each other and will support the other when in trouble but they are also ambitious, prideful and competitive individuals. So, it is inevitable that there will be differences in opinion among them and some sibling rivalry. I hope I have been successful in showing the dynamics of the relationship between the Black sisters. Even if I don't want to break the suspense, I will tell you something. With one sister being disowned, the other married to a Death Eater and the third one toeing the fine line separating them, difficult times are ahead for the Black sisters.

There have been some inquiries about the flying ability of Bellatrix. So, I will clear that up now. Flying is theoretically easy but hard to get it right. To achieve that one should be very powerful and should have good balance and an affinity for flying though for Voldemort, other two parts compensate for the lack of affinity for flying. It takes constant hard work over some time to learn to do it properly. We can not fly through the anti-apparition wards on our own but a specific ritual can enable us to do that.

Splinching occurs due to the relative motion between body parts due to inertia when the body suddenly moves. So, splinching is non-existent in flying as it is slow. The only thing you have to worry about is exhaustion as it is very power draining.

Many have mentioned that the story will improve with a proper Beta. I am a new writer and is not well versed with the Beta business. So, anyone who is interested in Betaing the story can PM me. We can discuss things then.


	6. The First War

**Disclaimer :**I do not own Harry Potter but I wish I owned Bellatrix Black.

' ' – Thoughts

" " – Speaking in English

" " – _Speaking in Parseltongue_

_' ' - Non verbal spells_

* * *

**The Rise of Bellatrix Black**

**6: The First War**

* * *

**Date: 14 September 1975**

**Event: Narcissa's Wedding**

* * *

Druella Black was nervous. Her little girl was getting married that day. That day was the result of months of tedious planning on her part. She could have hired someone else to do it but she wanted to personally organize the wedding. She had always loved organizing events like parties and weddings, a trait that unfortunately only Narcissa had inherited. She sighed when she remembered that it might be the only wedding she would be planning. She decided to go to the bride's dressing room to check on Narcissa. She knocked on the door.

"Come in"

She entered the room to see that Bellatrix was already there. She went towards Narcissa and righted her tiara. She couldn't help but feel proud and nostalgia about her daughter. The white wedding dress matched her hair perfectly. No one would be able to claim that she was not an angel after seeing her in her wedding dress. Even if she would not openly admit it, Narcissa had always been her favorite daughter as she reminded her of herself at that age.

"You are looking very beautiful today, Narcissa. Abraxas' boy will not be able to take his eyes off you.", she said.

She saw Bellatrix roll her eyes at the statement and smirk on seeing Narcissa blush.

"Bella, aren't you going to tell her how beautiful she is?", she asked.

"Mother, you have already told her enough times for all of us.", Bellatrix drawled.

"At least she is marrying unlike many others.", she replied.

"Mother, not again.", Bella replied.

"What is wrong with the Lestrange boy? They are a good family. They run in the proper circles.", she asked.

"Mother, Rodo is married to Drucilla. Did you forget that?", Bellatrix replied.

"I was not talking about the elder one. I was talking about his brother Rabastan.", she replied pursing her lips in irritation.

"I am sure Drucilla will want to double team the Lestrange brothers. I am not going to interfere in that.", Bella replied.

"BELLATRIX! A proper lady never speaks that way. Learn something from your sisters.", she replied disgusted.

She flinched as she realized that she had included Andromeda too due to the force of habit. She closed her eyes for a few moments and composed herself. She knew very well that Bella was only acting childish to rile her up. She had seen her behaving in a mature fashion and taking on responsibilities many times in the recent years. She wondered how Andromeda would be behaving if she was here. The only similarity Andromeda shared with Bellatrix was her looks. Unlike Bellatrix, Andromeda had always been a quiet and obedient child who had never demanded anything. In fact, she was so quiet that they had forgotten her existence. There was an old saying that it was always the quiet ones that should be watched out for. They had learned the hard way how true the saying was. She had failed as a mother. If only she had paid more attention to her, it would not have happened. She felt Bellatrix keeping a hand each on her shoulders and guiding her to the chair she was sitting on.

"Mother, you shouldn't overwork yourself. Why don't you sit here and accompany Narcissa. I will take care of the rest. Organizing parties and functions are not my thing but I am not completely useless.", Bellatrix said ignoring her little slip.

She could not help the smile that came to her face. There was the mature Bellatrix she had been thinking about. She could not understand why Bellatrix had such contempt for marriage. To be honest, she was not the first Black woman to choose a life of solitude, a fact she had no qualms about reminding everyone whenever she was asked about it. After her fiancée's death, her aunt Cassiopeia Black had chosen to live as a spinster for the rest of her life. She had joined the war against Grindelwald just like Bellatrix had joined the war against Voldemort. Her aunt Cassiopeia seemed to be quite happy to see Bella following in her footsteps and had started giving her useful tips now and then. Her mind went back to the time she was pregnant with Bella. It was a very difficult time. There were so many complications that even their healer had believed that the child would not survive. But she had not only come out alive but also remained a healthy child. It was the reason she was named Bellatrix. Ironically, it was Aunt Cassiopeia who named her saying that she would one day become one of the greatest warriors ever. She now wondered whether she should have put up more protest. She was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening. She looked up to see the subject of her thoughts standing in the doorway looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She was sure now that the fate really hated her.

"Are you alright, dear? You must be really ill to let Bella take care of everything.", Cassiopeia Black said.

"Do you really believe that Bella can't do it properly?", she asked.

"I never meant that. We both know that event management is not Bella's field of expertise. Some people are just meant for greater things.", she said with a smirk on her face.

"Believe what you like, Aunt Cassiopeia. I have better things to do than discuss trivial matters. Now, if you will excuse me.", Druella replied plastering a fake smile on her face.

Bellatrix was wondering for the hundredth time why she had let her big mouth talk herself into this. Management of high profile events was her mother's and Narcissa's domain not hers. She had no idea what to do. When her mother started thinking about Andromeda, she had to act quickly. Even if she had her own flaws, she was quite a sweetheart. Anyway, luckily for her, her mother had already done most of the work. Now, the only thing she had to do was to greet everyone who came to greet her, lie to them about their beauty, gush over their dress and jewellery and act like meeting them was the greatest thing to happen to her. Though many of them made her want to take up a new muggle pen name and declare war against all the pure bloods, she could manage it. It would not do to insult the people who would be fueling her rise to power after all. She then saw few people come towards her that made her wish that she had stayed with Narcissa.

"Bella! Just the person I have been hoping to see.", Lucius said.

"Hello Lucy! I know what you are going to say. I can't break a tradition like that. You do know that it is a bad omen to see Narcissa before the wedding. So, you will have to wait until father walks her to the dais.", she replied.

She saw Lucius' right eye twitch on being called Lucy but she kept her amusement hidden. After all, she did want to know what his motives were.

"Actually, _we _came to see you for a different matter entirely.", Lucius Malfoy said in his silky voice.

She recognized the tactic immediately. He was using the advantage of greater numbers as an intimidation tool to take control of the situation. She analyzed his group quickly. The group had five persons other than Lucius : Crabbe, Goyle, Lestrange brothers and Drucilla. She noted that all of them were relaxed though Drucilla's wand hand was shaking slightly as if she was itching to take her wand out. Crabbe and Goyle were physically intimidating and knew many dark curses but even together they did not pose a problem for her. The present Lestrange brothers were nowhere near the ones she was familiar with in terms of magical power or skill. Even if that turned out to be the case, she knew their mannerisms and weaknesses too well. Drucilla could be a problem. The only thing she knew about her was that they were rivals growing up and that she was always jealous of her. Her other self had no knowledge of her. The memories she had gotten, even if incomplete, had given away nothing about her. It was as if she did not exist in the other world. She wondered whether that girl had just sprung up out of nowhere to restore the balance that was spoiled by her. Bellatrix decided that she was one to be wary of as nothing was known about her magical abilities. Then there was Lucius. He was like an eel: quite slippery and dangerous if underestimated. He was magically powerful and quite skilled but she knew that he was no match for her. He was cunning and had a silver tongue which could talk him out of any situation. But his tendency to voice his opinions in public, his impatience and quick temper would be his undoing. She remembered he had tried to replace Riddle as Dumbledore's primary foe after his fall in 1981. But he had only ended up as an unwilling pawn for Dumbledore in his machinations. None of them were any more than a slight annoyance on their own but together they were something to be worried about.

She flicked her wand conjuring chairs for all of them. She inwardly smirked when she saw their shock at her speed of spell casting. She felt amusement at the ease with which she had dominated the conversation.

"Considering that we are having a discussion on an important matter, I suggest we take a seat.", she said gesturing towards the chairs.

After they got seated, she said, "Tell me, Lucius, I am all ears."

She purposefully ignored the others and focused her attention on Lucius. Unless Lucius had the perfect control of the group, there would be many ego clashes in the group in the near future which she would be able to take advantage of.

"As you already know, our world is in danger from the dirtying of our society by those who are less than deserving of our gifts. We must stand united against the collapse of our world. You, Bellatrix Black, could become such a powerful force for good and a leader of our cause if you join Rabastan as the co-leaders of the youth movement. Your parents can see the wisdom in it; they know that an alliance between your two powerful pureblood families would go far in rallying others to the cause.", Lucius stated in his practiced smooth and silky voice.

Bellatrix was surprised. She had already guessed that they were giving out an invitation but never in a million years would she have guessed that they wanted her to be their leader. She could not understand why she would be elevated to the level of a leader on joining when there were many others who had joined before her and would have many accomplishments to their name. She had no idea that she was important enough for the dark lord to risk his followers losing their morale. She had looked at Rodolphus to see his reaction to his younger brother being chosen as a leader ahead of him. As far as she could see, he was unhappy but accepting. She knew well that the only reason Rabastan was considered was due to the possibility of a union between them. It then suddenly occurred to her. Unlike the last time, she was not just a talented and ambitious teenager anymore. She was already a leader in her own right. She had already made many important connections in the Ministry. She knew that even Amelia, who she considered as a close friend, looked up to her as a leader. On recruiting her, not only will he get considerable influence over the Ministry, he will have greater chances of getting the House of Bones and the House of Longbottom. There are three potential recruits in the Bones family. Amelia Bones was a powerful witch who was already making waves in the Ministry. She had chosen to be a Hit Witch even when she was competent enough to be an Auror as she disliked the chaos of the battle. Her younger brother Harold Bones had graduated from Hogwarts two years ago and was as popular as his sister in the Ministry. The youngest one Edgar Bones was doing his last year in Hogwarts. Frank and Alice Longbottom were skilled Aurors who could be formidable opponents in a battle. The Noble and the Most Ancient House of Longbottom was one of the oldest Houses still in existence and was part of the original Wizard's Council. They were quite influential as they had seats in Wizengamot and the Board of Governors. Getting the House of Longbottom on his side would not only be a boost to Voldemort's campaign but would also be a hit below the belt for Dumbledore as the Longbottom family had always been aligned with the Light. Considering what she would bring to the table, she was worth all the trouble. She suddenly remembered that Lucius was waiting for a reply.

"Spoken like a true politician, Lucy", Bella replied, "I have no interest in joining your little movement, and I have _**absolutely**_ no interest in joining the House of Lestrange. So, unless I am going to be offered something in the next few minutes that encourages me to change my mind, we are parting ways."

She saw him gritting his teeth in anger. Regaining his former air of indifference and schooling his features, he began to speak in the tone of voice his father had taught him in dealing with all matters of a political or public nature.

"Miss Black, our 'little movement' as you call it, is the herald of a people who wish to only reclaim what is by right of magic ours. Your Noble family has generously provided funding to our Lord and as a boon to your family you have been given an opportunity to be a witch of position and prestige within our ranks. Our Lord has been informed of your skills with a wand and your prodigious talent at brewing. He is most anxious to meet you; he wishes to personally explain his platform to you. Bellatrix, this is a rare opportunity afforded to few. You could very well be placed amongst the elites in the new government that he will establish. Just think of the honor you will bring to your family, not to mention that your family will be heroes to our people by funding this great cause and fighting for our traditions and culture.", Malfoy declared.

Bella admitted to herself that Lucius could be very suave and convincing when he wanted to be. She did not share all of the same ideals of the more bigoted purebloods anymore but she was proud of the traditions and culture of her magical ancestry. The fragmentation of her society was evident even to the most novice of political watchers. She did not know whether to laugh at the irony or feel disgusted. She remembered well that Lucius had lost any loyalty to the cause after he went to Azkaban and learned that his son had joined them. Even if she did not already have plans of her own, she had had enough sense to not believe anything that came out of his mouth. She tilted her head as if she was thinking.

"It was an interesting conversation, Lucius. I believe that it is time we part ways.", she replied.

He stood up quickly and said with a hint of threat in his voice, "I feel sorry for you, Bella. You are really going to regret that decision."

She stood up quickly and vanished all the chairs causing the rest of them to fall on the ground in an ungraceful heap.

"Good luck for your future life, Lucius Malfoy. Few years later, you will really need it.", she replied and walked off.

She quickly got seated and saved the seat next to her for her mother. Sometime later, she felt her mother sit next to her.

"Mother, did you get tired of complementing Narcissa on her beauty?", Bella drawled.

"A wedding is a woman's most important day. On that day, she deserves every complement she gets, not that you would know anything about it.", Druella replied.

She was about to reply with an equally scathing remark when she saw her father bringing her sister in. She had to admit, even to herself, that Narcissa was looking quite beautiful that day. Her father's face was void of any emotion but his eyes showed the pride he was feeling. It reminded her of her own wedding in her past life. She watched her father hand over Narcissa to Lucius with nostalgia.

"Are you having second thoughts, Bella?", her mother asked.

She would have sounded nonchalant to an untrained ear but Bella could hear the smugness in her voice. She gave her mother a piercing glare which, unfortunately for her, had no effect on the latter.

"I know that the decision I had taken is the right one.", she replied haughtily.

"Of course you do.", her mother replied.

Bellatrix completely ignored the sarcasm in her mother's voice much to the latter's displeasure. She watched them pledging oaths hoping that her sister would not regret that moment in the future. She sighed when she saw Lucius discreetly clutch his wand arm and leave after giving his new wife a quick kiss. She discreetly looked at her mother to see that she was not that happy either. She looked around and saw that a good portion of the guests had already left. She went up to the dais and gave Narcissa a tight hug.

"Congratulations on your wedding, Narcissa _Malfoy_", Bellatrix said smiling.

Narcissa gave her a small smile and said, "Thank you, Bella."

"As much as I would like to stay, it is time for me to leave.", Bella said.

Narcissa nodded and Bella apparated away.

* * *

**Date: 21 March 1977**

**Location: Potter Villa, Cornwall**

* * *

It was total chaos. Bellatrix strode towards the gardens. Even if she had not remembered the exact date, she had remembered that there was an attack on the Potters sometime around Ostara (Easter). After confirming the information with her contact, she had prepared her team for retaliation. She instinctively sidestepped a Killing Curse and blasted away the head of the idiot who thought that he was capable of killing her. The headless body of the idiot fell down and laid still. She wondered for a moment about the identity of the Death Eater she had just killed. She then saw that the damage was so great that there was no chance of identification. She had used more power than she had intended. It did not matter to her any way. He was just a nuisance that had gotten in her way. She had participated in this attack last time around. She remembered well that Voldemort was here disillusioned to observe the performance of his followers. She walked into the garden and stopped. She then closed her eyes and extended her senses. She could feel his presence nearby but could not pinpoint where.

"LORD VOLDEMORT, I know you are here hiding under a disillusionment charm. I, Bellatrix Black, challenge you to a duel. Are you going to accept it or are you going to continue hiding like a coward and hide behind your servants?", she shouted.

She could feel everyone else, Aurors and Death Eaters alike, look at her as if she was insane. She stopped herself from rolling her eyes at the stupidity of those people. The Death Eaters of this time must be more idiotic than the ones in her time if they had really thought that the dark lord would let them run around like cattle without proper supervision, especially in such an important mission. She felt the magic in the air shifting. She saw a wisp of black smoke forming in front of her which coalesced into the form of a tall black haired man. His face was sunken and his red eyes were scrutinizing her. She was shocked initially on seeing a much more human looking dark lord but hid it before anyone else could spot it.

"So, you are the famous Bellatrix Black. I have wanted to meet you for some time now.", he said.

The predatory smile he gave her would have made anyone else shiver in fear.

She gave a show of mock surprise by widening her eyes and said, "Really? I am flattered to hear that. So, you are the ever elusive Lord Voldemort."

"I am surprised to see you understand it considering the fact that you were foolish enough to ask for your death by openly challenge me to a duel.", he said nonchalantly as if he was talking about the weather.

"You are assuming that you will win. Give me more credit, Riddle. I knew that you were watching the attack disillusioned unlike your house elfs- I mean servants.", she said knowing that her purposeful slip up would be bruising many egos.

She saw his mouth tighten on hearing her call him 'Riddle' and had to struggle to contain her smirk. A childish part of her conjured a scoreboard in her mind and marked the scores. _Tom Riddle 0 Bellatrix 1_

He gave a mock sigh and said, "I don't understand why you are so intent on getting yourself killed. You are not only a pureblood but also from a dark family who has been supportive of my cause since the beginning. You would even hold a high position in the government I form if you join. You are a very powerful witch. I hate to see such potential going to waste. If you join me, you will be my second-in-command. You will get everything you want: money, power, fame, glory. I suggest you think about it."

She saw his eyes starting to glow towards the end and the words seemed to have a ring to it. On concentrating, she recognized a subtle compulsion charm intended to make her accept his offer. It had no effect on someone as strong-willed and powerful as her but it would have been enough to sway those who were only looking out for their own interests, which most of the people were.

"Your compulsion charm does not work on me, Tom Riddle. Tell me, Tom, do you accept?", she replied.

"I had tried to instill some good sense into you, _girl. _I hate to spill such precious pure blood but you have given me no choice.", he sighed and continued, "If you are so eager to meet your end, who am I to deny. I accept your challenge.", he replied.

He turned to others and said, "Anyone who interferes will face my ire."

He glared at everyone as if daring them to question his orders. Fortunately, none of them were stupid enough to do that.

They gave each other a quick bow and got into their dueling stance.

"Avada Kedavra"

She saw the green light coming towards her face. She wondered for a moment whether it was arrogance or stupidity that made the dark lord do it. When the curse was close enough, she tilted her head sideways. The curse sped by missing her hair by an inch and hit the tree behind her causing it to burst into flames. She waved her wand casting a charm to restrict the fire.

She walked forward knowing that every step she took was an insult to him.

"I am surprised to see that the _great _Lord Voldemort can't even aim properly. I had hoped for a good duel but I am disappointed.", she mocked him.

She knew well that for her plan to work properly it was necessary for him to be distracted by his anger. His face revealed nothing new. But, having known him for years, she could spot the signs that indicated his rising anger. He suddenly sent a fireball at her which she batted away like a fly.

Bellatrix then gave her wand a swish. For a moment, it looked like she had not cast any spell. The slight disturbance of air near her wand was the only indication that a spell had been cast. While practicing for her dueling competition, she had discovered that her spells seemed to become lighter in color. She did not understand the reason initially but she later theorized that the change in color indicated the reduction of wasted energy. It took her years of practice to cast a spell without the accompanying light. The slight widening of his eyes showed her that her opponent was surprised. But he was not known as one of the most powerful wizards ever for nothing. He conjured a silver shield with a slight upward slash of his wand. The spell made a deep gong-like sound on hitting the shield but did not harm it.

The dark lord raised an eyebrow to which she replied, "It was not meant to kill you. I was just testing to see how you would react."

In a movement too quick for a normal eye to spot, Lord Voldemort cast three similar spells at her. He then curved the spells so that it would come inwards towards her at different altitudes. Bellatrix was shocked. She did not even know that it was possible to control the path of the spell after it had been cast. As there was no way of predicting where the spells would be at a given time, it was impossible to deflect or dodge them. As the paths of the spells were unknown, there was no way to know whether a shield will work. For all she knew the spells could curve in such a way it hits her from behind. Luckily, Bellatrix was no novice. She waited until the spells got close enough for her to guess its trajectory. She twisted out of the path of the first spell so quickly that others could only see a blur. She ducked under the second spell and rolled to the right. She then reflected the third spell back to its caster which he batted away easily.

"Apparently, my tests tend to be harder than yours.", he replied with a smirk on his face.

His behavior reminded her of her private training session where they sparred simultaneously with wand and words. She returned his smirk and got back into her dueling stance.

Lord Voldemort suddenly shot three Killing Curses simultaneously at her. Two of them curved towards her from both sides while one curved towards her from top. Now, without the shock factor, she had time to think and analyze the problem from all angles. The fact that Killing Curse was the slowest did not hurt either. She knew that they cannot be shielded against or deflected. So, the only way is to use something else to intercept it. Using conjured stones to block them would be ineffective in the present situation as she would have to predict the height, distance and orientation simultaneously for the three curses coming from three different directions and coordinate them to the appropriate points. It then occurred to her that if she conjured living objects with a compulsion to intercept the curses, they would calculate the necessary parameters themselves.

'_Avis _'

The conjured birds flew in different directions and intercepted the curses. She then saw a Killing Curse coming straight at her. She conjured some more birds to intercept the curses.

'_Avis Oppugno … Duro _'

She sent a flurry of birds to attack him. With a slight flick of his wand, he blasted all of them away one by one.

They both then paused to observe each other assessing the other's strengths and weaknesses in their dueling stances. Suddenly, Bellatrix started sending a barrage of spells ranging from the Tripping Jinx to the Blood Bursting Curse. She was fast but he was faster and she soon found herself on the defensive. They were exchanging spells so fast that to any observer it would look like their wands were connected by color changing sparks. They had used everything in their surroundings as their weapons in their fight and the battlefield showed the result. Most of the trees had already burned down, corroded, pockmarked or crumbled onto itself. The ground was pockmarked with so many holes that it looked like many meteors had landed there.

She paused for a moment to catch her breath. As much as she hated to admit it, Voldemort had much greater power reserves than her in spite of her special advantage. She knew that she had to do something underhanded to contain him. She instinctively moved to the left and felt pain in her right arm. She then saw a burned mark on her right arm and realized that Voldemort had just attacked her with a Fire Whip. She rolled out of the way of the next hit and somersaulted backwards to avoid the one aimed at her legs. She conjured her own Fire Whip and tangled it with his when he tried to attack her next. She realized the foolishness of her actions when her opponent's did not even move an inch in spite of her pulling it towards her with her full force. It was one of the few times in her life that she wished she had been born male. The dark lord then waved his wand causing her to fall backwards due to the force losing her wand in the process.

Voldemort cancelled the Fire Whip charm and sighed.

"It was interesting dueling with you. You were better than I had given you credit for. But, you made the mistake of opposing Lord Voldemort. Let this be a lesson for others.", he said pointing his wand at her.

She quickly rolled to the side and summoned her wand. She turned to see the Killing Curse coming towards her. She summoned the nearest Death Eater and used him to intercept the curse. She then blasted the Death Eater into pieces and banished them towards her opponent. He was shocked to see her nonchalantly using a fellow wizard's torn away pieces that he hesitated for a moment. He quickly got over his shock and vanished the pieces. He realized his mistake soon after when he felt pain all over his body. There were darts stuck to him all over his body and a knife stuck to his stomach. Bella twisted her right hand in the clockwise direction. The darts and the knife followed her hand movement causing him more agony. The first thought that occurred to him was that she would have made a good Death Eater. She knew the art of torture very well. She drew her hand backwards causing the darts and the knife to follow the motion. They wrenched themselves out so quickly that he could not bite back the scream that left his lips. She summoned the knife and returned it to her holster. She then banished the darts back towards him.

He now had enough time to recover and disappeared. He was nowhere to be seen but she knew that he was still there. She extended her senses outwards and found his presence behind her to the right. It was a good tactic. As she was left-handed, that position would be the most difficult position for her to attack. She suddenly turned and attacked him.

'_Flammasectum_ '

Red hot fire burst from her wand towards the now visible target. He shielded against it and then vanished again. He reappeared in his old place causing her to turn again. He was shaking silently in fury, all traces of amusement and good humor gone. She saw him tilt his wand towards the ground and it started shaking suddenly. She realized that he was using the same spell that Frank had used against her years before. The ground in front of him suddenly rose up several feet. Then it started falling and the next part started rising. She suddenly realized that the ground had started to behave like sea waves. She was shocked to speechlessness at the sheer display of power that was happening in front of her. She came to her senses few moments later. She sent her most powerful Blasting Hex at the ground beneath her and rose several feet up into the air. She then quickly tapped her feet.

She initially waved her hands about to preserve balance. A moment later, she found herself standing on thin air. She then noticed her opponent looking at her in shock and a smug smirk came on her face. It was not something that happened frequently after all. The shock on Voldemort's face gave way to anger.

"What kind of magic is this? Standing upright on thin air is impossible.", he said enraged.

"Like bending spells?", she asked with an innocent smile that only ended up infuriating him more.

It was true. Even though wizards could hover over the ground with a simple spell, walking upright on air was considered to be impossible _until now_. It was Lily who had put forth the idea. Apparently, she had seen many 'cartoons' where characters can walk on air until they realize that they were doing it and had wondered whether magic can emulate that effect. She had no idea muggles had such a vivid imagination. After many failed attempts, they had recently managed to get it correctly. Its only limitation, as far as they could see, was its high power requirement. It was not a big problem. The spell was still in its testing stages after all. They still had to test it under Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey wards. With time, they can improve the spell. She knew that, with that day's demonstration, her red headed friend would be very popular among the Experimental Charms Department.

Voldemort suddenly twisted his wand sending a purple spell towards her which she batted away. He then sent a constant barrage of spells which she either deflected or dodged as per her whim. She was quite familiar with that spell chain and so could afford to slacken a bit. He then paused and then started another familiar spell chain. He completed many spell chains before he paused realizing that the technique was not working. Bella walked upwards as if she was climbing the stairs until her feet were at his eye level.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Tom Riddle. It is the fools who waste their time gloating.", she said.

He jabbed his wand at her. A blast of red hot flames erupted from his wand and went straight at her. She quickly cancelled the charm and landed back on the ground. She had to use her other hand to retain her balance due to the unevenness of the ground. She looked up to see an expression of absolute fury on his face. She saw that his wand was still emitting fire. She then noted that there was something different about it. It had a darker tint to it. She soon realized to her horror that it was fiendfyre. The fire soon started changing shape and she could see the head of the snake forming. She could feel herself starting to panic. She took deep breaths to calm herself. She knew the basics of Elemental Magic. To create and unleash fire and wind, negative emotions like anger and hatred while to control them you need a calm and content mind clear of any doubts. The fire serpent soon grows until its head is bigger than her. It rears its head and swoops down upon her with its mouth wide open showing fangs bigger than her upper body. It strikes right in front of her and loses its shape. Its shape then slowly changes to that of a chimera facing away from her. She summoned all her anger and then jabbed her wand sending it charging towards Voldemort. With a jab of his wand, he sent a huge amount of water and extinguished the fire. The resulting steam hung between them obscuring their view.

'_Amovere Typhonis _'

With a circular motion of her wand, she unleashed a powerful hurricane sending all the steam at Voldemort. He cleared it with a quick wave of his wand. He slashed his wand vertically causing his wand to emit a powerful beam of light so bright that she closed her eyes in pain. She jumped to the left quickly. She knew that Solar Flare was used as a distraction to hide the following spells. She was proved right when she felt a spell fly past her. She might have fallen for that trick if she was not as experienced as she was. She cast the combination of Shrapnel Curse and Blood Boiling Curse on the place he used to be on and then to his left and right. When the light returned to the previous levels, she saw that he had used the Wall of Flames to shield her attacks. He then transfigures the flames into a sphere and sent it at her. She ducked under it.

'_Ignis funis _'

With a flick of her wand, she conjured a rope made of fire and uses it to bind him. He vanished the Fire Rope and with a flick of his wand, sent a black cloud towards her. She recognized the curse as _Ardens Nocte_ or the Burning Night Curse. It was a deeply unstable spell that cloaks the victim in darkness and inflicts the pain of being burned alive. It was usually cast on the muggles as a payback for all the witch hunts. She did not miss the implied meaning.

He saw the black cloud enveloping her. It slowly shrunk down to her shape. He knew that she could not escape from this. She should have known better than to challenge him. Now, she would have to suffer the consequences. He suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet shift which was strange. He then realized that he was rising. He saw many pieces of earth break away from the ground and rise. Those pieces soon joined together enclosing him in a dome. They started rotating around him slowly picking up speed until all he could see was a blur of brown and green. He could not understand how it happened. He started appreciating the ingenuity of it when he realized that he could not apparate out and could not break it up even after slashing with his wand many times. The attack was very thorough. He then noted that dome was getting smaller and closing in. He now knew that attacking a single point would be useless as the dome was rotating. The only solution was to attack the entire dome simultaneously which required enormous amount of power. It would have been impossible for a lesser wizard but not for Lord Voldemort. He concentrated on his core and let magic flow through his entire body. After a minute, he let out a burst of power which decimated the dome. He landed smoothly on the ground and saw his opponent looking slightly tired but still ready to fight. He could not help but nod at her in respect. She kept him airborne, created a dome to enclose him and had it rotate around him simultaneously. Rotating a dome of that size made of a fluid was draining in itself but she did it with a dome of earth which required several times that power. It would be tiring even for him or Dumbledore. For a girl of her age to achieve that is unbelievable. For a brief moment, he wondered whether he had made an enemy that was too powerful for him to handle before he banished that thought.

He summoned all his power and directed it to his wand arm. A pulsing, black ball of magic formed at the tip of his wand which he sent at her to see that she had sent a similar violet ball of magic towards him. The magic was so powerful that they made a crevice on the ground they passed. Both of them were projecting their auras and everyone in the vicinity could feel the power emanating from them. When the balls collided head on, the power released was so great the ground beneath their feet shook. The temperature of the place had risen very quickly when they started merging. Suddenly, they exploded and the backlash sent the two opponents a good distance. He got back up with some struggle and saw that his opponent had done the same. He was feeling pain all over his body for some reason. He noted that Bellatrix did not seem to be in any pain even if she did look very tired. So, it was clear that the pain was not the result of the backlash, at least not completely. He then realized that the pain had originated from his stomach and was spreading outwards. He touched the place the knife had struck and his eyes widened in realization. He looked at her and saw that she had a smug smile on her face.

"What did you lace the dagger with?", he asked.

"Figured it out at last, have you? Why don't you guess?", she asked in return.

"Acromantula venom", he said more to himself than her.

He knew that acromantula venom infections could only be cured by muggle methods as any magic used on it would only end up increasing its potency. When you have acromantula venom in your system, it was important to refrain from magic until all of it was cleared. Ordinary witches and wizards would feel the pain associated with it immediately. But, he had done a ritual to make sure that he would feel any pain, injury or exhaustion only a long time after it actually happened. It had given him a huge psychological advantage in his every duel he had fought and went a long way in establishing his image as an all-powerful, infallible, invincible, unbeatable and immortal figure. He had never expected it to backfire like this. The fact that he had done another ritual to flush out all the poisons in his body using his magic did not help the matters. He now remembered that she had sacrificed an advantageous position to summon back the dagger and keep it safe. If it was that important to her, then it must surely be an heirloom. Knowing the Blacks, it would have many nasty curses on it. It was then that he truly realized how she had outplayed him. For the first time in decades, Lord Voldemort felt fear. She still had that annoying smirk on her face that came with knowing that she was the victor. He wondered whether the increased pain would worth it if he cast a Killing Curse on her. If he left now, she would win by forfeit and he would lose face in front of his followers. If he continued the fight, he might die. It was true that he created many horcruxes but he did not know whether it would be enough. Theoretically, a horcrux prevents the soul from leaving the World of Living. Even if it worked, there was a good chance that his soul would be stuck in a body that was so riddled with venom that it was practically useless. He pointed his wand at her and was about to utter the words when he felt a sudden spike of pain. He then decided that tactical retreat was the better option. He was not well prepared that time. He would return later well prepared and kill her. He felt the pain spread and knew that he would soon be incapacitated. He had heard a lot about the prodigious skills of the new recruit Snape. It would be a good opportunity to test it.

"This is not over. I will return soon and punish you for your insolence. DEATH EATERS RETREAT!", he said and apparated away.

She saw the Death Eaters apparate away and sighed in relief. She saw the Aurors coming towards her but she succumbed to unconsciousness before they could reach her.

* * *

**Date: 1 August 1980**

**Location: Unknown muggle hospital in France**

* * *

Harry Potter had just been born the day before. Many people, friends and coworkers alike, were sitting outside waiting to get a glimpse of him. Unlike others, Bellatrix waited patiently. A few extra hours were not a big deal for her as she had already been awaiting his arrival for years. Alice had just given birth to a boy two days before. He had potential and would grow up to be powerful wizard like his parents. She was happy for them but her happiness was eclipsed by the anticipation of that day's meeting. Just then the nurse arrived carrying a baby accompanied by a tired looking Lily Evans. The baby was then handed over to his father.

"All tests have been done on him. He is perfectly healthy.", the nurse said and left.

She then saw Dumbledore take the child from him and she shrunk to the shadows knowing that she would have her chance. Dumbledore smiled at the child but the smile did not reach his eyes. She saw that he was assessing him somehow. She suddenly realized that he was measuring his power and comparing it to the Longbottom boy to know who the real Prophecy child was. He returned the child to his father and left. He was passed around until he ended up with Lily though she noted, with amusement, that both Pettigrew and Harry seemed to be uncomfortable with each other. Lily looked at her son with love and pride in her eyes.

"Bella, don't you want to hold him?", Lily asked her.

Bellatrix opened her mouth to reply but closed it when she realized that she had no idea what to say. She held out her hands and took him into her hands. She felt a smile come on to her face as she saw him. With a tuft of black hair on his head and the most mesmerizing emerald eyes she had ever seen, he looked so cute that she could not help but coo at him.

"He is quite cute, isn't he?", Lily asked.

"He is. You should be proud of him. When he grows up, he will be known as the one of the greatest wizards ever.", Bella replied.

Lily looked surprised and flattered. She mused that it was not the typical complement given to a baby's mother.

"I don't know what future holds but I do know I am and will always be proud of him.", she said stroking her son's hair.

Bella knew very well what future had in store for her redheaded friend. She sighed. She had not meant to be friends with her when they first met but Lily was the kind of person whom you cannot help but like. She wondered whether there was any hidden meaning in the prophecy that might help keep her alive. She shook off her morbid thoughts and analyzed him. She was shocked. He was much more powerful than Neville Longbottom. She did expect Harry Potter to be the more powerful but she had never expected such a huge difference in power. The power inside the boy would make his parents look like squibs and they were no slouches with wands either. This fact led to another startling realization. Dumbledore knew who the Child of Prophecy was long before the dark lord had decided to attack the Potters but he chose to keep it a secret. She had thought that he had had no idea since he had put both the families under Fidelius charm. She knew that if the dark lord did not know the identity of the child, he would spent more time attempting to find out who it was which would delay his plans to take over the country. The longer he runs like a headless chicken, more time the families would have. It was a brilliant plan with a serious drawback. After some time, he would decide that it was a better idea to wipe out all the families who had a child in that year to be on the safe side. She wondered whether putting all those families under unnecessary stress was worth the psychological advantage. The knowledge she had now, if shared, would be the much needed lifeline for one family and the death bells for the other family. One look at Lily's face was enough for her to be sure that, despite whatever motivations he might have had, Dumbledore had made the right decision. She was brought out of her thoughts by the feeling of someone pinching her nose. She looked down to see that the culprit was a tiny hand whose owner was smiling at her with a mischievous glint in his emerald eyes. She returned the smile momentarily forgetting all her worries.

* * *

**Date: 31 October 1981**

**Location: Marauder's Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

* * *

A hooded figure appeared suddenly in front of a moderate sized house. For a moment, he surveyed the surroundings sneering in contempt at the ordinary houses occupied by equally ordinary people. He was about to move forward when he felt a tug at his robes. He looked down to see a small kid looking up at him.

"Nice costume, mister. Trick or Treat?", he asked.

He slowly removed his hood and he could see the kid losing his courage on seeing his face.

"That is alright. I have got to go. Bye", the boy said quickly and scampered off.

He watched the kid leave amused. Two words would have been enough to ensure that the boy would not reach his father. It would be entertaining but unnecessary. He strode forwards towards the house quickly but stealthily. The small gate creaked when he pushed it open as if it had not been touched for over a century. He took a peek through the window to see James Potter lounging on the sofa as if he had no care in the world. The idiot had blindly trusted the old fool and his friends and had no idea about the price he would have to pay for that mistake. He discretely put up the wards to keep them in and knocked on the door. He heard incoming footsteps and saw the door opening.

"Sirius-"

James Potter stopped speaking and stood shell shocked when he saw who was at the door. Lord Voldemort relished the fear he saw on the face of the other wizard. James eventually got back to his senses.

"LILY, he is here. Take Harry and-"

Before he could complete the sentence, he was thrown backwards. Voldemort entered the house casually assessing his surroundings. James took his wand from the table and started firing spells. The dark lord easily batted away all of them. Potter then transfigured the table into a lion and sent it at his opponent who blasted it into pieces. He transfigured the pieces into arrows and sent it at latter. James rolled out of the way and was about to attack when he felt intense pain on his right leg. He saw that his leg was broken. Voldemort used that moment of distraction to disarm his opponent and broke his wand right in front of him. He then blasted James into the far wall of the kitchen. He casually strode over to the kitchen and smirked at the bleeding form of his opponent. He levitated his opponent until he was eye to eye with him.

"James, James, how far has the mighty fallen?", he said shaking his head in a mock despair, "A few years ago, you had everything a man could ever wish for : money, power, fame. But, I took everything away from you one by one. What were the things you boasted about? Rich parents and grandparents who would buy you anything you asked for? I executed all of them. Trustworthy friends? The fact that I am here shows how trustworthy they truly were. Family? I can assure you that you would not have one for much longer. So, all you have left is a bunch of vaults which would soon be without an owner."

"I might die today, Voldemort. But, someday, someone more powerful than you will rise and kill you. Mark my words, Tom Riddle.", James replied.

James knew that he needed to keep Voldemort talking. Lily had some back up plans which she had always been tight lipped about. He now knew that she had done the right thing as he might have ended up telling his friends. It hurt him to learn that one of his friends had sold him off so quickly. There was no use thinking about that now. She had told him to make him so angry that he becomes careless _when _such a situation arises.

Voldemort let out a high, cold laughter that sent shivers down his spine.

"Who do you think is going to kill me? Your one year old son whom I am going to kill later on? Or is it that old fool you follow around like a lovesick puppy? Where is he anyway?", he sneered, "You are not much of a man without your precious Dumbledore here to hide behind, are you?

"I was talking about Bellatrix Black actually.", James said.

He smirked when he saw that all the traces of humor were gone from his opponent's face. It was the first time he had publicly supported her. Even Lily was unaware that he was in agreement with some of her principles. He might not personally like her but the enemy of the enemy was an ally after all. Bellatrix was a woman with no moral fiber to speak of. She was not someone he would want anywhere near his son but, even he had to admit, the girl had some spunk. She had not only challenged one of the most powerful wizards to a duel but also sent him scurrying in fear. Men twice her age and experience had never had the guts to do something like that. That duel was a big psychological blow to the Voldemort's side and morale booster to theirs. Voldemort never showed his face in public for over a year and the Death Eater attacks were weaker than usual.

"I admit that I had underestimated her and she got lucky once-"

He was interrupted by a snort.

"What about the fact that everyone you sent to assassinate her ended up dying in bizarre 'accidents'?", James asked.

It was something Lily had told him once. He was not sure how much truth was in it but after seeing Voldemort's face, he could safely assume that most of it was true.

"Should I remind you about the Hogwarts Express incident?", James added cheekily.

He did an internal jig when he saw Voldemort trying and failing to control his fury. He knew that it would hit a nerve. Over a year after that duel, on September 1978, Voldemort had decided to hijack the train taking the students to school. The wards around the train were not just built for comfort but also for protection of students from outside attacks. Unlike the ones around the school, the wards were not strong enough to provide a major challenge to a wizard of Lord Voldemort's caliber. The plan was to infiltrate the train and take the students as hostages, ones that mattered to him of course. All muggleborns would have been slaughtered and thrown out of the moving train while the other children would have been held as leverage. Then, the Ministry would have no choice but to surrender. But, when they managed to enter the train, they found that it was empty. There were no signs of children anywhere. That shocked them as they had expected the students to be there protected by some Aurors. They went to the front to see the driver escaping on a broomstick leaving the train running. It was then that they realized that they had just walked into a trap. The whole train was booby trapped. Most of the important death eaters escaped without permanent injuries but everyone below that rank was decimated. It was supposed to be the ultimate strike which would bring the British Isles under Voldemort's rule but it ended up as the ultimate embarrassment. Even though it was a joint secret operation between the Ministry and the Order, the Order were kept ignorant about the traps. Dumbledore was not pleased but only the old timers agreed with him. Majority either had their own children or nephews and nieces who had boarded the Hogwarts Express or had boarded themselves in the last few years. So, they felt no mercy for these people. But, it was only the beginning. The dark lord had no idea that he had just opened a 'Pandora's box'. The Ministry decided to celebrate their first success in years by publishing a front page article with all the details in the Daily Prophet. Casual omitting of the word 'muggleborn' and the usage of carefully chosen words made them look graver than they were. It was followed by a flaming speech by the head of DMLE. Due to their low numbers, the wizarding world had always considered their children as their most important asset. So, naturally, hearing about the cowardly attack on children drew the ire of the general public. The timid sheep that public used to be suddenly turned into furious dragons overnight. The hunters became the hunted. Many sympathizers in Knockturn Alley decided that it was time they took an extended vacation and anyone with the mark foolish enough to go out was found dead with their mark exposed for the entire world to see. No one knew whether it was done by the Ministry or the enraged public. It dealt a big blow to Voldemort's recruitment drive. Barty Crouch was an excellent leader with good political sense but James knew that he was not that good. He was sure that Bellatrix was behind it. After all, Lily had a smug look the entire week following that incident. His wife was usually the level headed one among them but when it came to Bellatrix Black, she would become like a fan girl and he would have take on the mantle of being the level headed one. Fortunately, for him, Sirius chose to be neutral and was a much needed respite whenever Lily became too much to handle. The incident inspired people in many other ways too. They decided that if they were going down, they would take their attackers down with them too and booby trapped their houses. So, however the attack went, it always ended up as a loss for Voldemort's side. That trend limited the high profile attacks as Voldemort could not risk the death of Inner Circle members especially when the recruitment was running dry.

"I thought you were going to kill me. May be you don't have it in you.", James taunted.

"I was interesting chatting with you but I am a bit busy tonight. After all, yours was not the only family that had earned the privilege of my surprise visit.", Voldemort replied.

James saw Voldemort level the wand at his face. He knew that it was the last moment of his life. He had had many aspirations in life which would remain unfulfilled but he had already come to terms with that. He had married the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and had an equally handsome boy. If he was going to die, he would die like a true Potter protecting his family. The last thing he saw in his life was a green light heading in his direction.

Voldemort extended his senses and detected two life forms in a room in the upper floor. He assumed that it must be the child's room. He felt amused that they were deluded enough to believe that they could hide from him. He walked upstairs and reached the room. He saw that the mudblood had put up some wards to block his entry. He activated his Mage Sight and checked the wards. He had to admit that it was surprisingly good for someone like her. The runes were in a language he did not recognize which was impressive in itself as his knowledge of runes was unparalleled by anyone else. That type of ward was actually meant for huge buildings and using it for single rooms limited its durability as the available anchors could not withstand shocks above a certain level. Even with the limitations, she had done a good job with the wards. It looked like the nutcase Bellatrix had thought her a thing or two. He attacked it with a slight tendril of magic and saw the energy going to the sink in the bathroom. He deactivated the Mage Sight and struck with a Killing Curse. It wobbled slightly but stood still in the end. Killing Curse was one of the most effective ways to overload the wards as it had high amount of magical energy concentrated at a single point. He cast it again and saw it buckling. Apparently, the third time was the charm as the wards broke with a snap. He instinctively jumped forwards to the ground and leveled himself with it. He got back up and saw that the wall behind him was littered with iron fillings. Well, Bellatrix seemed to be quite the trendsetter these days. He entered the room to see that the stupid woman was trying and failing to hide her child. He could definitely see the advantage in keeping her alive. Her stupidity was entertaining in itself and her good looks were a bonus.

"I have to admit that the projectile attack was a good thought even if a bit overused.", he said smiling.

He noted with amusement that his smile seemed to scare her more.

"Don't worry. I have no plans to kill you, Lily Evans. I am a merciful lord. I am ready to spare your life. The only thing I ask of you is to give me what I want. Then, I will be on my way.", he said.

She shook her head crying even more and said, "You can take anything you want. You can even kill me if you want but not my son."

He sighed and said, "I thought you were more sensible than that. It looks like I would have to do it the hard way."

"Avada Kedavra"

He quickly moved out of the way of her curse.

"Avada Kedavra"

The green light hit Lily Evans taking away her life. He sighed. He had promised Snape to spare her life but she was too stupid to get the hint. Hopefully, he would mope around for a bit and get over it. He stepped over the woman's body and reached the crib. He took out a beautiful quill with golden feathers and placed it on the ground. No one else knew of the existence of Rowena Ravenclaw's Golden Quill. He could not understand why people were so careless with such important pieces of ancient history. He pointed his wand at the child and muttered the Killing Curse. The green light erupted from his wand and hit the baby's forehead. The first part of the ritual was over. He stretched the green light like a thread and placed it on his chest where his heart was situated while saying the complex incantation. He then took a tendril of blue light from his chest with his wand and stretched it until it touched the quill. It was then that he got the feeling that something was wrong. He looked around without stopping the incantation did not find anything wrong. It was then that he noted that the child was still breathing. Harry Potter was still alive. He tried to think of a way to rectify the mistake without disturbing the ritual. It was then that he noticed something more alarming. The green thread of light had detached itself from the child leaving a scar on his forehead and was coming straight at him.

* * *

At last, here it is, Bellatrix Black meets Harry Potter. I have been trying to get it right for a long time. It was a cute scene, if I say so myself.

I hope I had done the duel justice. I have noticed in many time travel stories that the one who comes back seems to be a dueling god knowing many types of magi unknown to everyone else. In this fic, Bellatrix is just a stronger version of her usual self. As she says, it is not about who is more powerful but who uses the resources they have more effectively. In the duel, there are 3 spells/spell combinations that was inspired by canon. Can anyone guess them correctly?

At first, I had intended James to be fanatically loyal to Dumbledore but I changed my mind. I had tried to make him as realistic as I could manage. I took the teenage James that JK gave us and made him more mature. He still has his prejudices of his teenage self but he has matured enough to know that people are more than that. He dislikes Bellatrix because she is the personification of everything he had always hated, mostly everything, but he also respects her abilities and achievements. Unlike in many fics where James is shown to be blindly loyal to Dumbledore, here, he leans more towards Dumbledore than others but he disagrees with the Headmaster on many things.

I had received suggestions of having Bellatrix as Minister of Magic. It was interesting to read. But, Bellatrix will not be occupying a position where public will watch her every move and criticize them.

Next chapter will see the introduction of Dumbledore and Longbottoms. There will also be an introduction of a character who is unmentioned in canon but will play an important role here. Guess who?

I hope you will remember all the details in this chapter. Many things that seem inconsequential will have their importance revealed in the next chapter.


End file.
